FIRE IN MARTON.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 18, 4 January 1879, Page 2

FIRE IN MARTON.

DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPERANCE HALL.

About 1.30 p.m. on Friday, the alarming discovery was made that the workshop of Mr. S. H. Russell, builder, High street, was on fire. The entire building and timber stacked near was speedily a burning mass, sending forth volumes of flame, which speedily communicated with the Temperance Hall. It was evident almost from the first that the Hall was doomed to destruction, and at one time it appeared impossible to say where the fire would end. Mr. Lyon's premises were in imminent danger, and that they have been saved may be attributed to the unceasing exertions of the two or three persons who maintained their positions on the roof and battled with the flames. The heat was terrific, but fortunately an abundant water supply was obtained from adjacent tanks and wells with which a number of blankets which had been hung over the gable of Mr. Lyon's house we e well saturated, buckets full also being dashed by willing hands on the steaming walls. There was more or less confusion at first, but a better organisation soon took its place, and men and boys, (women also lending assistance), worked in combination to subdue the flames. The iron roof of the Hall, kept down the heat considerably, but when the roof fell, scorching blasts came from the burning building hot enough to ignite woodwork a long distance off. Finally, the roof fell, and shortly afterwards the chimney and walls, and the principal danger was averted. In Mr. Russell's shop, beside timber and tools, there were also all the fittings for his new house, and a valuable morticing machine. There was only a trifling insurance on the whole. The Hall was insured for £250 in the Victorian. The building had been erected at a total of over £400. The inside fittings and some doors and sashes were

saved, but the labor of the promoters who took an active interest in the building from its inauguration is destroyed. At present Mr. Russell scarcely knows his loss, nor can he form any idea as to how the fire originated, he himself being then in another part of the town. It was feared that the flames would cross the street, and the precaution was taken of removing the occupant of the opposite house temporarily confined to bed, and who, through alarm and weakness, is in rather a critical state of health. Fortunately the practical necessity for the precaution was not made apparent, or a more disastrous conflagration would have had to have been recorded, as the most of the town would have been swept away by the destroying element. An official inquiry into the circumstances of the fire will be held before the coroner this afternoon, in the Court-house. — Rangitikei Advocate.