Fires at Dunedin.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXIII, Issue 3616, 26 October 1907, Page 2

Fires at Dunedin.

TURPENTINE MISTAKEN FOR WATER.

By Telegraph.—Press Association Dunedin, Last Night.

A lire occurred today at premises occupied by J, Wren, painter,Princesstreet, doing damage to the extent of £SO. A boy left a tin of turpentine and other material standing in a store at the back of the premises, and a workman coming in, mistaking the material for water, put it on a gasring to boil for paste. The tin ignited and blazed fiercely, and the workman promptly took it off, pouring the contents into a sink near by. The overflow from the tin set lire to some straw near by, and this Massed up, setting fire to the roof and causing damage to ornamental glass, etc.

The insurances on the building, which is valued at £2OOO, are as follows:—Royal Exchange, £450; Victoria, £200; Liverpool, London, and Globe, £2OO. The stock is valued at £2soo,and is insured in the United Office for £450, in the Australian Alliance for £2so,the Northern,£4oo; South British, £200; and North Queensland, £450.

A six-roomed wooden house and the furniture it contained, the property of Jas. Peebles, were totally destroyed by fire at North-east Valley today. The insurances were in the Norwich Union (£300) and the New Zealand office (£140), and the estimated loss over insurance is £260. Mrs Peebles and a son were the only occupants of the house at the time of the outbreak, which is supposed to have originated from a small lire in the dining-room.