FIRE AT TOKOMAIRIRO.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2787, 23 January 1872, Page 2

FIRE AT TOKOMAIRIRO.

(From the Standard. ) On Friday, at mid-day, Milton was the scene of a very alarming fire. Although attended with the total destruction of property to a serious amount, yet from the wind being providentially in a direction to prevent its spreading, the loss is not so great as there was reason, to fear might have occurred. Shortly after the departure of the mid-day coaches from the White Horse Hotel, the cry of fire was heard by' many in the neighborhood, and soon after huge volumes of smoke were to be seen rising from some place in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. These first on the spot discovered that the fire had originated in the stables behind the hotel, and occupied by Mr Langley. It seems that the first symptom of fire was noticed in the hayloft above the stables, and at the north-east corner, but as yet there is not the slightest clue to the cause or origin of the lire. The rumor was current during the lire that men had been putting hay into the loft in the early part of the day, and the conjecture was that the tire had arisen from some carelessness with the all-prevalent tobaccopipe. We are assured, however, by Mr Langley that no one, to his knowledge, had been in the loft since the preceding day. As a large quantity of hay and chaff was in the building, the fire, aided by a slight breeze, was not long in assuming an alarming appearance ; and everyone capable of rendering any sort of assistance was soon there. By the help of a vast number of willing hands, it took but a little time to make a gap between the stables and the buildings closer to the hotel, and to remove the horses from the stables; and it reflects credit on the energy of the assistants, that, with the exception of one mare belonging to Mr Langley, the horses were all removed in safety, Part of tlie oats and other portable property were also removed to a safe distance, but by far the larger portion of these the harness, &c., had to be left, and, of course were all destroyed. While the fire continued at it height, the wind was blowing from south west, and therefore in such a way as to forward the efforts of those bent on saving property. Had the wind veered round in the opposite direction, which it did when the fire was getting low, there would have been no physical possibility of saving cabs, stables and the hotel and adjoining houses would also have been victims of the devouring element. Near to the stables which were burnt, Mr Langley had but recently erected a number of loose boxes, and these also were soon enveloped in flames. As the stables and loose boxes abutted upon the road line, Abercromby street, to the north, when the firo had fairly abated, the great danger of its spreading further was past, and this took place just two hours after the first alarming cry of tire had been heard. The estimated loss to the proprietors, Messrs Soutter, Hi*, lop, and Gray, will be about L3OO, covered, however, by insurance to the amount of L2OO in the London, Liverpool, and Globe Insurance Company. Mr Langley estimates his loss at L 275, none of his property being insured, consisting of the loose boxes erected by him, hay, chaff, grain, harness, &c., and the mare which perished in the flames. It is a singular coincidence that Mr Langley has been the first to suffer loss by fire, as he was the first, when acting as Town Councillor, to suggest the propriety of having a fire-engine for the township.