FIRES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 12, 19 May 1913, Page 5

FIRES.

FATAL OUTBREAK. [Per Press Association.] Auckland, May 19. A hoarding house containing sixteen rooms situated in Hobson Street, owned and occupied by Allan Morton, was gutted by fire (with the exception of two rooms) at 4.30 this morning. Practically nothing was saved. The house was occupied by Morton and family, and ten boarders. All escaped except Henry William Smith, aged sixty, who was burned to death: Morton found Smith in his room at the end of the passage, which was already ablaze. The /ban’s bedding was burning and Smith was partly burned and was insensible. He was a heavy man, and Morton was unable to move him, and had to beat a hasty retreat. Smith camo from S} r dnoy, where his relatives reside. ON SUNDAY MORNING. Eketahuna, May 19. A fire which occurred in the main street at 5.30 a.m. on Sunday destroyed Tumor and Company’s butcher’s shop and contents; Mrs Wolfe’s stationery shop and contents, and badly damaged a shop occupied by Wall Kee, fruiterer, and owned by A. H. Herbert, and an empty shop owned by F. C. Tumor. The recently installed high-pressure water supply was instrumental in checking further spread. The insurances on Wolfe’s stock and contents were £205; on Tumor and Co.’s machinery and fittings £200; on the buildings owned by E. C. Tumor, £515; on Wall Keo’s

shop, £250; all in the London, Liverpool, and Globe. Carterton, May 19. A fire on Sunday morning at 1.30 a.m. destroyed a. ljuilding occupied by S. Savage (cabinetmaker), H. H. Armstrong (saddler), and Coleman Phillips (solicitor). The origin of the outbreak is a mystery. The building was owned by the late W. Parker’s estate, and was insit'red for £IOO in the Commercial Union, and £IOO -In the North British. Savage’s stock was covered- by £550 in the South British; they lost everything. Armstrong’s stock was insured in the Queensland for £l6O, and in the Commercial Union for £IOO. A good deal of stock was saved. In Phillip’s office the furniture Avas insured for £25, /"'d on]y a fcxhltfeaiyl saved.