THE AUCKLAND FIRE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 469, 19 August 1909, Page 3

THE AUCKLAND FIRE.

Auckland, August 17. Reports are current that a Woman was seen in the top storey of the Arcade while the fire was burning, crying for help, and making frantic efforts to escape, but so far no one is reported missing. As lar as could be ascertained to-day from careful investigation the total amount of damage by last night’s fire will probaby prove to be in the neighbourhood of ,£60,000. The chief damage done of course, was to the Strand Arcade itself, and this may be put down at about ,£30,000. Other principal losses were : —British and Continental Piano Co., or ,£SOOO ; Thomas Mitchell (agent for Messrs Bowen Bros., Christchurch), .£4500; Leonard and Harrison, ,£2500 ; Standard Cafe, £1000; Albert Hotel, £1000; Thistle Hotel, £1500; Crouch, £1000; D. Palmer,

A wag in Masterton has perpetrated a hoax at the expense of seven guileless insurance agents (says the local Times). A wellknown employee at one of the tailoring establishments in town has persistently turned a deaf ear to the eloquence of the local agents. One morning the heart of each was gladdened by the receipt of a postcard asking him to call at the establishment at u. 45 a.m. regarding the insurance of the one who had hitherto resisted their individual plausibility. It speaks well for their punctuality that all arrived within a minute of each other, primed with policies and all necessary data. Naturally it did not take them long to discover they had been hoaxed, and as each pulled out his post-card making the appointment the language increased in intensity and luridness. Now seven irate men are looking for the perpetrator of the joke.