FIRES

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 27, 2 October 1913, Page 5

FIRES

AT OPUNAKE AMD HAWERA 1 MIDDLETON’S HOTEL, 10 SHOPS. [Per Press Association.] Haw era, October 2. A disastrous lire occurred at Opunako at midnight, resulting in the destruction of Middleton’s hotel and ten shops. No other particulars are available. NO WATER SUPPLY.

DYNAMITING ARRESTS THE FIRE

Hawera, Later. Tli© principal business quarter of Opunake was burned.

The Buildings Destroyed were;

Middleton’s Hotel. Marshall’s office. The Loan and Mercantile Store Mildenhall, saddler. Kannell, bookseller. Aitken, blacksmith. Dudley, butcher. Nicol, tea rooms. Watson’s boardinghouse. Jackson’s office. Holmes and Arthur’s store.

Heath’s furniture warehouse. The Bank of New Zealand had a very narrow escape. A choppy wind prevailed throughout. From further information to hand, it seems that the fire started about midnight in the laundry part of tiie hotel. There was practically no water supply, and the fire spread so rapidly that by 2.30 the greater part of the town was reduced to ruins and presented a heart-breaking appearance.

The Fire Brigade Dynamited Nicols’

Tea Rooms, and the gap thus made and the concrete wall of Burton’s shop arrested tiie progress of the fire on that side of the street. Particulars of the insurances are not yet available. COFFEE PALACE AT HAWERA. The Coffee Palace, a two-storeyed wooden building in Hawera, was gutted by fire at -1 o’clock this morning. ■ - - —»