Destructive. Fire in Wellington

New Zealand Tablet, 25 October 1906, Page 24

Destructive. Fire in Wellington

• £ h ? • most destructive fire that has ever taken ulacc in Wellington occurred at an early hour* on Monday' morning. The outbreak, which -originated in a onestorey wooden building situated on'Lambton Quay [ spread with great rapidity, owing to the shortage ofwater through the main supply pipe bursting. In less' ff n vi hh 4 oUrs two banks > two hotels . tw o insurance establishments, and. several business premises were de"fK? y^i,--i ? V Ti 10 S firmS - Were affected by the conflagration, whilst the damage is estimated, at £100,000 The I^ ta^ c on Premises and stock destroyed is 'over £80,000 The following is a list of the destroyed pre- '= mises :— Hallenstem's auctipn mart ; Miss Roach's fruit '■ shop ; Pinnock's Trocadero (private hotel) ; . O'Dwver's • Commercial Hotel ; Coban's fancy goods bazaar : Levi's . optician establishment; Shield's tailoring shop; Whitcombe and Tombs's printing establishment ; Bank of $ e F S^ U l h a , les; Union Bank of Australia; Caste.!- • dyke and Focke's warehouse • Worker's Strand Cafe • the Alliance insurance buildings ; the Wellington Trust and- Loan buildings ; the New Zealand Insurance build--ings ; A. T. Bates's premises. -

The estimated value of the buildings .destroyed -is ' * 1 ? 0 ' 000 ' <the chief values being— Bank /of New^ Soutli • Wales, £40,0005-Whitcombe : and < Tombs. - £8000 ; the Trocadero, £8000 ;' New > Zealand insurance Company; £2000 ; .Commercial 1 Hotel, £2000. The .others ranged from £750 to £1000. Holiday Bros, own the'premises in v which the , fire occurred and also Mrs. Roach's. Hamilton Gilmer owned the Trocadero, the Commercial Hotel, and Levi's. Whitcomf>e and Tdmbs, the- Bank - -of ..New South Wales,' and the Union Bank owned their premises, and the : latter owned the Strand Cafe (occupied by F. Dakin). Mrs; W. B. Rhodes owned the Wellington Trust' and Loan's, C. M. Benks's (stationer), and Bates's premises, also - those" of Focke. The Alliance - Assurance Company own their premises and those occupied by Wilson. All the buildings, destroyed, with the exception of the Bank of New South Wales, the Trocadero, and Whitcombe and Tombs, were old wooden structures and old landmarks. The Central Hotel, opposite the" Bank of New South Wales, had a hole burned in the 'roof, and many incipient fires from sparks were reported. Several houses on the terrace overlooking the scene of the" disaster narrowly escaped.