THE FIRE AT OAMARU.

Evening Star, Issue 3770, 24 March 1875, Page 2

THE FIRE AT OAMARU.

At half-past twelve on Saturday night some E ergons in the immediate vicinity noticed ames iu the shop of Messrs Harbison and Henderson, grocers, Thames street. An alarm was at once given. The members of Mr Wansbrough’s family had barely time to escape in their night dresses, and the inmates of the Alliance Hotel were in a scarcely better position, as they were able to save very little, if any of their clothing and effects. At one o clock the fire was raging furiously, having caught Lippert’s store, which adjoined that of Messrs Harbison and Henderson. The wind at this time was light, from the westward, and as the flames crackled and burst through the windows of the two stores, all hope was given up of trying to save the buildings. It was impossible to save anything from Messrs Harbison and Henderson’s and Lipper’s premises as the fire had obtained complete mastery over them. Falconer’s store was broken into, and a good portion of his valuable stock of seeds, cm., saved. The stone shops occupied by Messrs bmith (fancy goods), Milligan (tailor and clothier), G-. Anderson, (bootmaker), and rj. .Lane, butcher, were next cleared. By this time the fire had got a good hold of the Alliance Hotel, and the furniture, &c., was being placed out of reach. Of course most, if not all, of the liquors were either drunk or wasted, and we regret to say that a good many took advantage of the opportunity to imbibe pretty freely, several of them being in the house to the last moment, all bent on gratifying. their desire for the cursed fire water,” indeed it was at one time thought that some of them would lose their lives through their eagerness to make beasts of themselves. At 1.30 the wind drew round to the W.S.W M and began to get stronger. The fire having destroyed Falconer’s seed store, grave

foan were entertained for the shop of Mr Mill!gan. which is of atone, and adjoin’s Falconer's, liuoksts were procured, and water obtained from the well at the back of the premises, and several energetic workers having managed to get on the roof of the building, the buckets of T!!u handed U P' ftnd the was checked P^srea 8 in this direction. At n^lW°M k SV hop aad dwelling-house occu£nd tbnniv. £ Farr waß ca^ht b y the and though the occupants managed to get away rtirtrs™ ot i“r i«p4. Still Air Farr will be a heavy loser. Mr Goldammera furniture warehouse and Mr Marts jewellery shop, which a)joins Farr’s shop on the south side, did not long escape, and were soon enveloped in the general coffifcgreturn , and though Mr Mart managed to save most of his jewellery, &c., Mr Qoldmnmer wiU loßer > goods, in being taken out of the shop m a hurry, are a good deal damaged. Attention was next directed to Kite s carriage manufactory, which is situated at the rear of Mr Marx’s shop. The vehicles m the yard were all removed, and as many of the tools as it was possible to save were saved j but Mr Rite loses largely by the fire. The fire now travelled in the direction of a building used by Mr Fite for keeping new vehicles in, and an attempt was made to save this building, which proved successful. Hassell’s malt house, which is built of stone, and situated at the rear of Kite’s manufactory, had a very narrow escape. The windows were broken by the heat, and it was reared that the sparks flying on to the root would ignite it as it is composed of shingles, but the ram which fell between ten and eleven the previous night had so thoroughly soaked the shingles that they did not ignite, and the malthouse was saved. At one time during the progress of the fire, it was thought that J. Booth and Co. s grem store was in danger, but by three o clock all danger was past. The losses are set down as follows:—N. Lane, Ll2O, covered by insurance; G. Anderson, LSOO, fully insured; Mrs Smith, L 100; partially iurUos ’/ • Wansbrough, L 1,400, insured for LSOO; J. Falconer, L6OO, insured for L 400: Harbison and Henderson, L7OO, fully insured; r^T ng ’J' 1 > 500 t0 L 1 .6 0°. insured for LI,200; Thos. Farr, Ll5O, uninsured: P. Goldammer, LSOO to L6OO, insured for L 25 0; H. Lippert, L7OO to LSOO, insured for L 500: James Marr, L 25, Uninsured j A. V. Jones, LBO, uninsured: H. Kite, L6OO, insured for L 460 ; James Hassell, about L7OO, insuredlfor LBoo. North Otago Times.*