A BLAZE AT ONEHUNGA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 244, 15 October 1936, Page 8

A BLAZE AT ONEHUNGA

FIREMEN’S DIFFICULTIES [lXr Press Attoclallon) AUCKLAND, Oct. 14. Watched by hundreds of onlookers, the firemen from three brigades fought under difficulty of darkness for nearly an hour before midnight in mastering a fire which swept through the fellmongery store and leather works of W. Sutherland and Company, Ltd., Onehunga. The contents valued at £3OOO, consisted of bales of wool, loose wool, skins drying, leather, wax, borax, and other tanning materials. The inside was like a roaring furnace. Only the fact that a strong wind was blowing away from the main block of buildings prevented a more serious result. Owing to the awkward situation ot the building the first engines could not approach closely. After nearly an hour, however, heavy streams of water from the hoses checked the flames sufficiently to enable the firemen to enter portion of the building and drag out the smouldering bundles of skins. By midnight the fire was extinguished and a guard was kept on to watch the smouldering skins. The drying shed in which the fire started, was valued at £lOOO, and is insured in the New Zealand Insurance Office. The building in which the fire started, which had been used as a drying room for wool and skins, was insured for £lOOO, and the contents for £l5OO with the New Zealand Insurance Company. , , 1 D. Heavy damage was caused to both I shed and contents. A large load of wool was removed on Monday and another was to have left to-day. Sutherland’s tannery was destroyed by fire in 1909 and there was also a minor outbreak last year.