DESTRUCTIVE FIRES IN AUCKLAND.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 449, 8 January 1869, Page 2

DESTRUCTIVE FIRES IN AUCKLAND.

A large and destructive fire occurred on December 28, at the bonded store of Mr W. S. Grahame, Fort street, Auckland, which was not extinguished until property to the value of between two and three thousand pounds was destroyed. Very little of the property destroyed was insured. It belonged to many merchants in town ; and among other goods sacrificed were about 80 tons of sugar, the property of Mr Robertson, which recently arrived in the Au Revoir, from the Mauritius. The buildings were insured in the Liverpool and London Insurance Office. It is stated that the total amount of property destroyed will not fall far short of L3OOO, if, indeed, that sum will cover it. No doubt, an official investigation will take place as to the origin of the fire ; the only hypothesis at present advanced is, that some of the inflammable goods in the upper part of the building must have caught fire spontaneously. On Christmas day, a destructive fire occurred at Maketu, destroying a house and two stores, the property of Mr Rogers. Besides the buildings and part of his stock in trade, Mr Rogers lost LBOO, in specie and bank notes, which were burnt.