FIRE AT BAINESSE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 99, 6 August 1880, Page 2

FIRE AT BAINESSE.

THB HOMESTEAD *\ND BUILDINGS DESTROYED.

(^nsid^rableMcite^it wf&caused througho^ ths*dist:ri|| on. ; p&e«dfa lastj'by tia iiJ^omatiQir that iite Bjifp 1)63)36 h^4t^d lia4;^*^^Bta'Q^'The Bamessl-propei^*' is cWiea^' Messrs C. Simpson and H. Mace, the former residing upon it. The homestead consisted of nine rooms, and •was most substantially built, whilst the farm' braidings imraerdiately J !*la:l:* , , roAin4ing; it — iaclut*iifl»- cheese shed, cart -Houses, vbnll sheds, -calf sheds, Ac.-rweve, .Qf. a, m_§_ cor^lete^i^Ba::J acter. The,*m^in b^i^diog, T has-been* erected about three years, and was. placed in front of a smaller building, and which .was. r some .few months older. On the day when the unfortunate event occurred, Mr* and Mrs SimpsoA 'had left 'for Fditdiirby tfce? train, Mrs Sirnpson intending to pay a visit to* in tFoxton, •and bringing with her two of the yoimgest ehild£e:p, wfyktMr Sampson came to tHe township "for the purpose of obtaining, medical advice for a child who, was. ailing.- Air SimpsQn ! s two sons we're absent from tne farm, as^ they were engaged., assisting a neighbour to muster his stockY The only person ii} the^ Ji.ouse at tHe; timt of the accident" was therefore Mr! 1 .Simpson's eldest daughter, a' young woman about 17 .years of, age. : It appears 'she' was 'engaged iii .''making, some cakes, and had lighted a fire* under the oven,-; by .-which; to* bake them. She then went to another part of the house to prepare them for the oven ,- and on retui-ning to put them in the oven was alarmed .to find the room in a blaze. ' She at once ran out and screamed to a niuai named Parce, a Workman on tlie farm, to come and assist, but on -his entering the house, it was found impossible, to do anything to Check the flames, whicli made rapid progress. Meantime, the fire had been observed by Mi*. Mace {brother of the proprietor of Bainesse), who resides something over a mile on the Foxton side of Bainesse. He hastened at once on horseback to the scene of the conflagration, but was powerless, the flames having a firm hold of the premises. Hardly anything was saved, almost every article in the house being destroyed. After tho flames had destroyed the homestead, they spread to the adjoining sheds, which were unusually extensive, and were soon reduced to ashes ; and in less .than an hour from the time the con''■flagration began the handsome farmhouse and buildings were' reduced to a heap of smouldering ruins, the four cHinuey stacks alone standing to I l '-mark the place where the homestead 'had stood. The most unfortunate part of the whole affair is the fact that a large sum of money — one thousand pounds in notes— was burnt in the fire. Only a few days before, the whole of the cattle on Bainesse liad been, sold to Mr M'Lenuau, manager of the Oroua Downs Estate, for £1000. This sum was paid in notes, being made up in two equal bundles — one of which was rolled up by Mr M'Lennan, the other by Mr Simpson. For private reasons which Mr Simpson has fully explained to us, but which we are not at lilerty to publish, Mr Simpson determined not to bank the money for a- few weeks,, and he therefore secreted it in a a portion of the roof. .It appears that adjoining Mr Simpson's bedroom Was a closet, in the ceiling of -which -was a trapdoor. This Mr Simpson lifted; and laid the notes there, informing no one-r-not even his wife— where they were placed. " Of course they were burnt in the -fire, and upon Mr Simpson will fall the loss. The notes were all small pnes, Mr Simpson informing us that tlie largest he remembers were four 20'^,' the remainder being 10's, s*s,'andl's. The information of tiie fire- was: brought into town to Mr Simpson by one of his sons, who returned to the farmhouse directly they- saw the fire.. Mr Simpson therefore* returned to: the scene pf his late home by the evening train / gathered together whatever had been saved, and Brought the remainder of "his family intdtb-^h by the night train. "We may add that several residents of the* township at. once offered to accommodate Mir Simpson's family, arid the offers, were gratefully acoepted. The origin of the fire is of course wrapped in "mystery. Whether the fire caught the paper ' or whether it oficutred through* a defective chimney there is no means 'of ascertaining. It may be stated, however, that the room in which the fire oepurred was not close lined, there being merely a board here and there, . to Which the scrim .and ps-pej.were attached. > This >will of course , acoount for the rapidity with which -the.fire took a firm hold of the building, • after it once gpt started. The property was insured in the South British insurance Com; pany for- £B6O, viz., £500 on the main buildjng,; and the balance ©n .the sheds, furniture, . &o. -„-We believe .up reinsuranpe had beep je^eote^v ., *-"..•,-,.-