FIRES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 88, 9 December 1912, Page 3

FIRES.

It is estimated that the damage done by fire to the Shaw, Sav ;! and Albion' Company’s s.s. Wai.vma st lu.nedin will cost several hund'’ed pounds. The Waiwera’s bunkers contained ’Durban coal, and a quantity, estimated at about three tons (says the Otago Daily Times) appears to have been charred. The heat generated by the slow combustion of the joal vas sufficient to damage some if the insulation of the adjoining refrigerated spare, but the extent of the damage can ct bo estimated until after the survey is made. It is regarded as a most fortunate thing that the fire was discovered in its incipient stage, because, owing to its being so deep-seated, it would have been very difficult to cope with at sea especially in rough weather. There appears to be no doubt that the outbreak was duo to spontaneous combustion. About 4 o’clock on Thursday morning a fire broke out at Gore in a wooden shed situated at the rear of the Criterion Hotel, the building being completely gutted before the brigade succeeded in putting out the flames.. There were some fourteen bicycles in the shod belonging to the people staying in the hotel, and those were destroyed, as were also a number of snakes, which formed the principal feature of a side show which has been following up the different agricultural shows. The fire is supposed to have occurred through the bursting of a lamp which was being used to keep up Hie temperature of the air in a large box in which the snakes were confined.