Fire in Palmerston

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 24, 6 August 1885, Page 3

Fire in Palmerston

DESTRUCTION OF THE TOWN HALL. One of the most extensive and destructive fires which has ever taken Slace in Palmerston occurred on Tuesay night, wlien the Town Hall was destroyed. The. building included the Borough Council Chambers, Road Board Office,. Public Hall on the ground floor,:.. and the Free Public Library upstairs. Nothing beyond a few books and papers was got out of the. Borough Council room, and the safe from the Road Board Office. Before the brigade arrived on the scene the whole, of the back of the hall was gutted and the on-lookers were waiting for < the final crash. Every possible means was; taken to prevent the spread of tiie fire either to the Bank of New Zealand on the. opposite side ef the road, or:te Mr Walton's Drapery Warehouse on the adjoining section to the HalL The brigade ladder was fixed against the latter building and a continual stream of water was kept thrown on with a supply passed upwards in buckets, a number of which had been procured from the Club Hotel. The Bank of New Zealand was also kept moist, plenty of willing hands giving valuable assistance by syringing the building and placing wet blankets oai the part facing the fire. The origin of the fire seems to be a mystery, and the flames being first observed coming from the rear of the hall, and not from any of the public offices, renders the. affair still more curious. The Clerk ef the Council was at Mr Waldegrave's house, the Clerk of the Road Board was at a meeting of the Foresters, and we believe the. fights in the library were extinguished by Keeler at the usual time, 1 1 o'clock. On making further inquiries we find that almost all the books in the Borough Council office were rescued and the safe which remained in the fire was proof against the heat, everything inside being found this morning in an excellent state of preservation. The insurance on the building, we are informed, is £1000 in the New Zealand, and on the library £100 in the same office. Everything but the few books which were in the. safe in the Road Board office were destroyed. — Standard. _.' . ■.