FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE AT TARANAKI.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 580, 28 May 1868, Page 3

FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE AT TARANAKI.

A iIAN BURNT TO DEATH. (From the Correspondent of the New Zealand Herald.) New Plymouth, May 19. A fire occurred here this morning, resulting iu the total destruction of the Royal Hotel, and the loss of one life—a young man who was sleeping in the house. At about 6 a m. the alarm was given ; tho military with their engine not being behind. It was only a few minutes after the alarm was given shat I was on the spot, and the whole building was then iu one mass of flame. The Royal Hotel is situated at the corner of Devon and Liardet-strcets, not tar from tho Wesleyan Chapel, and was kept by Mr Cottier. The inmates were all asleep, and the first who discovered the tiro >vas tne barman, who was awoke from being suffocated by tho smoke coming into tho room iu which he slept. He immediately aroused Mr Cottier and the lodgers, who had barely time to escape with their lives. One of the inmates, a young man, who was a heavy sleeper, could not bo sufficiently roused to a state of animation, and the fire having gained a full hold of the room in which he lay, it was found impossible to get him out, and shortly after U;c floor fell in and he was burnt alive, 6o suaden was tho alarm that nothing was saved, and the building was down before an hour had elapsed. "When the morning dawned, and it became light, a search was made for the body, and it was discovered burned, under one of the plates of the galvanised iron which formed the roofing of the building, charred to a cinder. No one can give any idea how tho fire originated, but it is supposed to have commenced in the private sitting-room of the landlord, or else in the kitchen. The remains of Peter Hi mn, (the unfortunate man who was burned), were taken to the dead-house to awair an inquest. Fortunately there was no wind blowing at the time, or the destruction of property would have been much worse. The budding was, lam informed, injured in the New Zealand Company for LtUO, and in the Liverpool, London, and Globe for £l5O ; the stock-in-trade rud furniture of Mr Cottier in the Liverpool, London, and Globe, for £4OO. The property was held in trust for the creditors of MrCudliffj, who recently failed. A great gathering of natives takes place to-day at Bell Block, which numbers of the citiiieus have ridden out to witness, and hear the speeches of the natives. The Odd Fellows' Hall is to be handed over to a Company about to be formed under the Joint Stoci Company Act. They propose raising £I,OOO in shares of £1 each. The Lodge will lose all tho money it has [invested in it —something over £lthX).

A VISIT TO TAPU CREEK-j (i'roiu tUe Tiirwxs advomsur.) Tim public of Shortland windulged* in what proved an agreeable changA from the monotony of every day life! oy aa excursion to the new town of 1 Hastings, Tapu Creek, on Sunday. ! The day was remarkably fine, and) sufficient to attract a large number of persons anxious for a trip on water, combined with a visit to a district which Is equally ilea as our own in the possession of auriferous ground.’ The announcement made by the spirited: owners of the p.s. Clyde had the, effect of collecting about 00 passengers. J The scenery along the ranges, which; extend in front of Hue of ivun . wa-, :0 welcome change from the interior of a ; store to ahard-woi kod business person,; and those who availed themselves of! the pleasure it afforded them. Tw< 1 hours’ easy steam, brought ihe pass t .» ; gers in view of their destination, auuj gave them aa opportunity of renewing| their acquaintance with the hills which| had been the object of interest and i subject of conversation during the pas-1 sage. On the beach there Wore in-Ji-i cations of arising township, whilst the water frontage afforded proof enough that good lauding accommodation was at hand. The creel: running from the main channel is of a very tortuous character, but only requires the practical handling of a vessel of light draught to render it of the utmost importance to the shipping interests of the pmcc, A esseis are enabled to go in villi the tide, discharge their cargoes, and leave again with the next returning tide. There were a number of new buildings going up, comprising hotels, stores, and private houses There are two hotels—the British ( a branch of the Auckland one bearing that name and conducted in Air Scents’ liberal style) and the Duke of Edinburgh (Messrs Reid and Co.) The latter were making preparations for the erection of a much larger and mere convenient hotel, of two stories, whilst three others were also in course of erection, Messrs Richard Cashcls. Arthur Burke’s, and Alfred Barchard’s, Two great wants appeared to be felt by the 1,000 or 1.000 miners and storekeepers who had pitched their tents in the district,namely.— a branch post office and a branch bank. These, however, are vre to follow the advancement of ih« place, although the backwardness of the Auckland people in all matters of this kind may serve to retard them even unduly. The allotments, we heard, were being rapidly taken up, hut tins is perhaps owing to the fact that the high ranges which enclose the t< wuship render I is enlargement at any distant peri: d out of the question, coupled with the constantly improving prospects of the claimbelders, and the discoveries of fresh claims, which are now almost of daily occurrence. The most noticeable sign of progress, and the most acceptable to the miners themselves, is the work in progress about three-quarters up the creek, where some 40 men are engaged in clearing a site audeonstmeting a road for the proposed tr im,way. Ic is intended to connect the mines by means of shoots with the tramwav. A site for the quartz-crushing mill has been obtained higher up the creek, in a more central position, wocre it is in comtemplation to erect a larger battery of stampers than the one now about to be put up. The convenience for a water-race, and a considerable power of water is very great and will he duly appreciated by the company. We believe they purpose erecting one of Schiele’s turbine water-wheels, a principle which has been found far superior to any yet tried. W e believe the district possesses in her known resources a material guarantee for her prosperity for a long length of days to come, hence the fact that the place is gradually throwing aside the canvas air of a rush for that of a substantial township. There appears to be the fullest confidence in the resources of the district on the part of those best acquainted with them, and a mu-ual reliance which seemed to augur well for the future. There was no distress, beyond that which must arise in every community' from ills over w hich mortuls'have little or no control. There appeared, in fact to be a demand for reefers or practical men ; and the tm-ouracerm. at given by one or two st; rekopers tu prospectors seemed very great, la one instance which came under our observation, the benefactor was in a fair

way lo be compensated for the spirit A liberality that he had shown. If a • ihjfer shows any reasonable claim lor -.Wstance in Allowing up a quartz prospect, it appears to us that lie finds no difficulty in obtaining it there, and a considerable sum is thus spent in assisting prospectors by some. The result of this mutual confidence Jand faith in die resources of the localtiy will, in oar opini m, tend to the discovery of reefs in this place as golden as any liiaL have previously been found In the country, and as promising in abundance of siuue. Several of the bills reach to a height of some 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and comprise hills or ranges from whicii the ruck in some places crosses the head of the creek. At one point of the stream we found a low Silurian range running. Gold has been found near the fall in the bed of the creek, and some of the earlier prospectors turned the course of the water in order to test the nature of the bottom, an experiment which showed that the ground would pay for further prospecting. Several t peeks, and in some instances pennyweights, to the dish were obtained. This fully established the nature of the bills around, and leads nave been opened spreading out towards the sides of these hills, and we believe that as the time advances and the- field becomes mure resorted to, the entire range, extending some miles inland, will bo found to contain numbers of such leads varying i u richness and amply sufficient to compensate the prospector. Ou the top of one of these hills, in ground only taken up a featnight ago, and named the Gold'-n Horn —situate three claims above Quinn and Cashel's we saw the cap ot a quattz reel, the quartz having overflowed on both sides of the fissure into which it ■ had been ejected. At another place the bottoms on which gold had been found were micacious schist, but good gold had been got Irma the rock near at hand, whilst the debris would pay for crushing if machinery were at hand. The antiquity of the ground and the gold drifts were evident, both from their proximity to the granite, and the character of the materials contained, as well as the absence of every tiling ol; a late formation ; whilst the cap oxj the reef, to which we have alluded, bvi remaining niiKiivveii, indicated that i it had never been submerged in the ocean, but deyoTleJ, nm-i probably, when the hill was upheave.!. Quartz veins, indeed, occur in ordinary ffirmalions ; the quartz having berni held in solution Ly water, has been deposited' by its m'oliug, but these veins contain little or no gold. Auriferous quartz seems all to have been ffi-mted into fissures, probably caused by the expansion of hills, through intense heat, or by their upheaved through underlying forces. Geological works describe quartz reefs, in the words of Professor Phillips, as “forming extensive veins in primitive and transitive rucks.” Quartz is one of the compounds cf granite ; all its component parts —quartz, mica, felspar, and hornblende—occur in distinct and separate rocks or masses among the earlier formations ; and it is said that none of these are ever so found among the later ones. Time did not admit of our visiting more than a tithe ol all the reefs that have been discovered; nor was it necessary for our purpose that wc should make the pilgrimage of every hill at one visit; but we saw enough in a few hours to assure ns that it would be difficult to over-rate the resources of the district, or to place a limit to the reasonable expectations that may be entertained for the future. In another issue we purpose giving the result of our visit to several claims. We may mention that these excursions of the little steamer, which has been permanently placed on the trade between this place and Tapu Creek, deserve to become very popular with the Shortland people, and merit better support at tlie-ir bauds. We hear it is probable the next special trip will be up the river, landing passengers at the Puriri and other places where the scenery is said to surpass anything observable even in the picturesque district just visited.