A SINGULAR ACCIDENT.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 311, 9 July 1896, Page 10

A SINGULAR ACCIDENT.

City Club Hotel (Auckland) Flooded and Damaged. ‘ On Tuesday morning, 7th inst., a water main in front of the above hotel (nearly opposite the Post Office) burst, and as there was full pressure on in the water-pipe —owing to the fire belle ringing at the time —the water spouted up as high as the fourth storey of the building, the force of the water throwing up stones and other road material. These missies broke nearly “all the windows in the front portion of the building, and the water which was being forced against the face of the building quickly went through the broken windows, and the different floors were submerged in water, the billiard-room and tables being much damaged. Of course, the inmates of the hotel had an anxious time of it, as everything apparently was saturated with the great stream of water, and consequently matches were not of much value, and those who left the hotel, groped their way out in the darkness, assisted by those who knew the run of the house. Mr E. J. Smith, the popular landlord, was struck on the head with one of the stones thrown up by the force of the water. The floors of each of the four storeys were covered with water, while the walls of the different rooms were more or less damaged. A lot of the stock in the cellar was floating about. The front portion in the third storey was occupied as a bedroom by Mr and Mrs Smith and infant. On the floor of the bedroom was a large quantity of metal, dust, and scoria ash, as well as a large number of stones. The servants and some boarders slept on the fourth floor. Mr Smith states that he was awakened between five and six o’clock by stones coming through the window and the smashing of glass and a deluge of water. He was almost paralysed for the time, as it was impossible to either light a candle or the gas. Mr and Mrs Smith, with their infant, four weeks old, got out of the hotel in darkness in the best manner they could, covered only in their night apparel. The servants and lodgers were sleeping on the top floor, and they also had great difficulty in getting out of the hotel in the darkness. Much sympathy is expressed for Mr Smith; as roughly estimated, his loss cannot be much less than £4OO or £5OO. The premises next door were also badly damaged. If the water main had burst further round the street, where a boarding-house was on Are at the time (an old man being suffocated to death), there would have been no complaint to make, but such _jh the ironv nf this life.