Fires.

Manawatu Herald, 8 December 1892, Page 2

Fires.

. _» — . Yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock a fire occurred at H. Ooley & Co's Rimatangi mill, which completely destroyed the whole of the mill. The fire was first noticed in the., scutching shed, which was not work- . ing at the time, no scutching having been done for about nine days. The outbreak is supposed to have been caused through a spark from the engine alighting in the scutching shed and the flames spread rapidly through the buildings. Nothing at all was saved from the fire. There was ulso about 8 tons of unscufcched filn-e in the shed. Mr Ooley estimates his loss at £450, as besides the fire he has been attempting to procure artesian Water, and has had to abandon it at 250 feet. We un derstand the firm intend to at once re-erect the mill and make another start, when we hope better luck will attend them. Last night a fire broke out in Mr \V. Langley's house, next to the .Manawatu Hotel, but was soon subdued by willing hands rushing ia, and with plenty of water at haul,

the building was saved from destruction It appears that some sheets j bad been aiiiow before the kitchen lire, and shortly before the fire was noticed Mrs Langley had removed the sheets to the bedroom, and it is supposed that a spark must have been carrried in with the sheets. The paper on the wall and ceiling were in fiaineo very quickly, and had it not been noticed In the Hick of time the building must have been consumed. No damage to any other part of the house occurred. This morning at 4 a.m. we regret very much to have to record another fire which entirely destroyed the Messrs Stag's mill, on the Messrs Strang's property. We learn that the fire has made a clean sweep of everything with five and a half tons of fibre. No reason can be given for the origin of the fire except that yesterday a lot of tow was burnt up, and it may be possible, though no signs of fire were noticeable in the evening, that something smouldering broke out with the morning breeze.