CITY CONFLAGRATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1013, 31 December 1910, Page 5

CITY CONFLAGRATION.

?EA ROOM? DESTROYED. .. . ''About a quarter to 5 o'clock, yesfer? ' day morning ,the Tiffin Tea Rooms, 93 Mariners Street; were discovered to bo on fire, and the alarm was at once ■Vgiveni to the Central ■ Station/ The ; brigade, under the copimancl of Superinf . indentQ'Brieri", arrived on. : the scene , ' dn'Va popple of; minutes, and at onpe ; $ot to work. The' burning .building, i contained the Tiffin Tea Rooms on the ground floor, the Young Women's •Christian. Association's rooms on the . .upper'floor, and a.'tailor's shop, occupied: by H. Bwslit,. anil; separatee!.',by ' . 'a/wooden. partition. ;• Thorp. was; comwith Winder's building, by ... fa;:'windpw end'doorway iii. the pack ,1 brick wail of the Y.W.C.A. ' rooms. .. The" window .was . covered by. malch- .'; 'wood lining," arid the doorway waspro- :. . fleeted. by wooden. Riding' doors, nailed • ; with battens. . -' .So great a hold had. the flames when . Jtho outbreak was- at. first'. discovered ithat-the task; of. saving l the building was a hopeless one] : but the : brigade .; v worked.',hard to'extinguish , the blaze ;.. • before it could spread t<s tlio build- -. tings on either, side.- With brick ion either side it looked' simple enough ...' .to ;confine the ' outbreak to'- the rone • .'building, but the .flames made' their '.. .. way ,intb : Winder's building, 'and. the brigade had to attack thenv'from that •; quarter. There was a considerable. ;'L qjuintity of combustible'!,'tt'ats)fliil.; hete'; '.but by;tlio. activity of ''tho"fire-figbtir? i- l.tjie; flames were repelled, though not . .'befora''some-damaee was done to -'the — stock: by- water', and smoke. Finally, /when - the conflagration was'"completely^'. :• VstinguiShed, it. was seen that, the tea. .■rooms were totally destroyed,. arid also : '-the, Y.W.C.A, rooms, while the tailor's 'shop was. seriously damaged .and the ":' stock' ruined. . In Winder's building* " the: basement ■ had been' flooded with .water, and in addition, smoko and - 'water had wrought: trouble in the blind ; : workroom, The 'origin of the fire, js for. the present a' .. mystery, -, - The Y.W.C.A.'s effects are covered by. a policy for £200 jn tho New Zea-i land-'Office. The loss includes furniture, .fittings, and piano, and also, a' number ': of books and a quantity of ;'faricy work. ■ -A young lady,' who arrived from Loni:';' don during tho week by the lonic, had . an I 'unfortunate experiened 1 . She... had "'.left her box .at the association's' rooms for a day. or two,and the contents were seriously damaged. -Mrs,'. Lee, proprietress 'of tho Tiffin i Tea Ifaojns, is a heavy loser by. the fire. . .There was a policy for £100 cohering. ..... ..the contents of the establishment, but /lit was recently allowed to lapse.' Ho ■ibuilding is leased by Mr. G. -Winder, and owned- by the Rhodes Trustees. It ■was insured for £600 with the Phoenix Office. In Mr, Winder's own building the . in the basement is. estimated while the damage to tho »stock and plant on the, upper floor/ is ... rsaid to. be : . something like £300 . Policies in the Boyal and Alliance Offices ' Jftll: cover' these losses. ' , ■ •

tTho Mimmas;-Hand Fire Extinguisher isi simple, effective, economical, and dur. iw ii-' t ■'• nf 9 ' Ethan's Building Wellington, is the agent;]—Advt, '