FIRE AT THE RUTLAND HOTEL, WANGANUI.

Manawatu Herald, 3 September 1880, Page 2

FIRE AT THE RUTLAND HOTEL, WANGANUI.

A destructive fire broke out at the above hotel at 4 o'clock on Tuesday morning last. The flames first made their appearance from the top windows fronting Ridgway street, and also from the windows overlooking the stable yard. With their usual promptitude the Brigade were at their posts, and length after length of hose was speedily run off, and the jets directed on the burning building. The body of the fire was up-stairs, and before the water could be brought to bear upon it, had almost gutted the centre of the building. A length of hose was taken into the building, and up the main staircase right into the flames. Lieut. Shaw was in charge of this jet, and although the post was a warm one, he stuck manfully to it, and fought the flames back. In Ridgway street, ladders were erected and the branches taken up so that the branchmen could use the jets to greater effect. From the stable yard, two jets were doing grand work, playing on that portion of the building where the flames had first taken hold. So fierce were the flames, and so complete a hold had they taken of the building, that its entire destruction appeared inevitable, but after a hard struggle, in which the Brigade men worked with a will, and were directed intelligently, the flames were gradually beaten out, and the victory in the battle between the two elements, fire and water, remained with the Westmere. Even after the main body of the fire had been subdued considerable care had to be exercised, as the flames travelled quickly along the scrim and paper ceiling of the several bedrooms, and broke out again and again. When daylight broke the full effect of the fire was discovered. To look at the outside of the Hotel, two or three charred windows and a burnt out kitchen is all that can be seen, but on mounting the staircase, the dire destruction becomes apparent. The whole of the upstairs floor is irretrievably ruined, and the sumptously furnished apartments of a firstclass hotel destroyed beyond recognition. The destruction beggars description. Those rooms not absolutely

burnt but are so blackened by the smo [illegible] tense heat as to com[illegible] the contents, and the pl [illegible] ble property is saddening lo [illegible] Just at the head of the t [illegible] en the fire came through st [illegible] e kitchen, the heat must have f [illegible] most intense. In a cheffioner be [illegible] the landing, used for storing the on [illegible] et and glassware used for the private suites of rooms upstairs, we noticed a salver literally melted down, while the lead flooring of the shower bath room has run together in a heap. The first alarm was given by one of the employed of the hotel, William R. Tuck, who states that he slept in a room just over the kitchen, the lift commumicating with that department and the upstairs floor, going through the room. Shortly after four he was awakened by a sensation of choking, and found the room to be full of smoke, which was coming thick and strong from the lift. He just had time to escape through the window when the flames broke through the lift and rapidly spread. All the inmates of the hotel were speedily awakened, and Mr Evans, assisted by his servants and several of the commercial travellers staying in the house, got the small hoses, kept always on the tap, at work, but the fire was too far advanced for them and despite their efforts gained steadily. The ladies of the house only had time to escape with their lives, as the house was full of smoke and delay meant danger. The fire being thus led upstairs by the lift spread on the one side to the private apartments occupied bythe family, and across the passage to the sitting room looking on the Rutland Chambers. From the window of that room the flames first made their appearance on the Ridgway-street side With a good hold in the centre of the building the flames spread to the adjoining rooms, and the total destruction of the hotel appeared only a matter of time. The body of water thrown into, the building must have been immense, as the six jets were at work for some time, and they literally beat out the flames. The loss to the proprietor, Mr F. W. Evaas, must be immense, and much sympathy is felt for him . With commendable enterprise he had lately so enlarged and improved the building as to make it the hotel of the coast, and now his capital and his energy has been swallowed up in a single night. On making enquiries, we learn that the insurances on the hotel are as follows:— £350 in the Imperial, on the furniture. This a complete loss, and will go but a slight way to recoup the y loss. £150 on the stock in the Imperial. This will be but a slight loss, if any as the fire did not touch the bar or cellar. £750 [illegible] the building in the Colonial, This is a complete loss. There were other insurances in the South British of £ 200 standing over from the time [illegible] y was in the hands of the [illegible] of the late P. A. Chavennes, [illegible] t Mr Evans declined to take them over. There is also another insurance of £400 in the South British as builders' risk, in the names of Messrs Alexander and M'Farlane. The policy does not expire till the 4th September, but as the building is finished and taken over we are not aware if the policy remains in force. A careful examination of the building this morning makes one thing almost certain. The fire originated at the back of the kitchen chimney. Two pieces of scantling run up at the back of the brickwork, and as far as the best experienced can judge the fire must have been communicated to those timbers, and spread in the direction of the lift. Once it broke through the lift it rushed up to the floor above and the mischief was done. The timber of the lift and the wainscoating of the kitchen is not burned at the bottom, thus shewing that the fire came along near the ceiling. — Wanganui Herald.