HOSIERY-MILL GUTTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 66, 9 June 1927, Page 7

HOSIERY-MILL GUTTED

MASTERTON FIRE SERIOUS DAMAGE DONE ( Special to THE SUN.) MASTERTON, Wednesday. The Masterton Spinning and Hosiery Mills, in Lincoln Road, were badly damaged by fire late last night. The interior of the building, with its valuable contents of machinery and materials. was completely gutted. When the brigade came flames were shooting through the roof and through the windows. The inside of the building was a fiery mass. Soon the fire was under control, although a great deal of inflammable material in a state of incandescence remained to be dealt with inside the building. The lighter portion of the roof collapsed and the inside of the building is completely gutted. The origin of the fire is not known. The manager of the hosiery mills was on the premises last evening until 7 o’clock, and when he left everything appeared to be safe. An adjoining building, Mr. G. Sunderland’s fibrous plaster factory, caught fire under the eaves, but the flames at these points were speedily put out. The mill, a one-storey building of concrete and brick, with an iron roof, was erected about three years ago. The insurances, all with the Royal Insurance Company, were: Stock and stores, £4,000; machinery, £3,000; building, £I,OOO. At a meeting of the directors of the company to-day it was unanimously decided to recommend to the shareholders that the mill be re-established as soon as possible. The chairman of directors, Mr. F. Petersen, in an interview, stated that the company’s prospects were never brighter until the fire. The staff had been increased from 14 to 25 and extra plant had recently been installed to cope with the expansion of business in the hosiery line. The company had made a profit of £4OO on the first sixmonth’s operations, and this year, although not completed, gave evary indication of being most successful.