PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 8 November 1916, Page 5

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

HUGHES ELECTED. EXTRAORDINARY. Received 2.30. WASHINGTON, Nov 7. Mr. Hughes has been elected President of the United States. SENSATION AT ADDINGTON. STEWARDS’ STAND BURNED. CHRISTCHURCH FIRE BRIGADE HOLD BACK. DAMAGE—BUILDING 10,000; FUR-. NITURE, £3OOO. INSURANCE £BOOO. CLUB OFFICIALS BLAME THE BRIGADE. CHRISTCHURCH, Nov 7. A great sensation was caused on the Metropolitan trotting track at Addington about 1 ip’clock this afternoon, by the discovery that the stewards’ stain? a fine building recently erected, was on fire. A small party of officials, with buckets and a garden hose, endeavoured to stay the outbreak,- but a high nor’-westerly hurried on the doom of the building, which was soon alight at all points. The glass smashing under the heat maintained a crackle like machine-guns in action. Crowds of people were driven from vicinity of the “tote,” and the eastern end of the big stand, and smoke and sparks and flying cinders were everywhere. The Cup -horses, which were just going out, were recalled, racing being for the time impossible. The Christchurch Fire Brigade did not turn out at once, as the Addington course is outside the city, fire district. All efforts to get the brigade failed, and an appeal , was made to Mayor Holland without success. Everywhere people were clamouring for the brigade, and upbraiding the Trotting Club for not calling the brigade. Indignation was general when it became known that the brigade would not go, and presently Supt. Warner appeared on the scene and, seeing the seriousness of the posi tion, ordered the brigade out, and a

motor engine arrived. The crowd hooted the brigade, anc? assailed it with derisive howls. As far as doing anything to save the build ing yvas concerned, the brigade might as well have stayed at home; but the efforts of the brigade were useful in saving the large People’s Stand, Avhlcti but for their presence, must have? shared the fate of the stewards’ stand. The burned stand was considered the finest in any part of Australasia. It was built by Luttrell Bros., and cost about £IO,OOO. The officials of the club consider that had the request for the brigade’s services been acceded to at the outset, the stand would not have been destroyed. The insurances amount to £BOOO. furniture to the value of £3OOO was lost. After a postponement for over a?s hour, racing was resumed, the Cup being run at about 3.30. The outbreak was first discovered by a woman, who noticed a wisp of smoke coming from the floor at her feet, just behind the front fence of the stand. She gave the alarm, but littTe notice was taken at first. For several minutes no notice was taken, and it was >.ot ffhtil the flames burst out in ! real earnest that anyone took a ser--1 ions view of it. Until then the crowd. I on the lawn had joked and cheered the ineffectual efforts of the amateur firemen. The opening of the floor to get at the outbreak with water, and the opening of the doors in the building fanned the flames, and this, with the delay, gave the fire its hold. At 2.20 p.m. it became clear that the meeting was to continue. The totalisator races were filled with investors, and money was being poured into the machine for the N.Z. Cup. With .the mins of the stand still burning, they were not dismayed. The N.Z. Trotting Cup actually started at 3.15, an hour and a, quarter after the advertised time. Evidence in support of the fusing of wires being the cause of the fire is increasing. People on the lawn say they saw smoke issuing from ihe north-west corner of roof. They tried to attract attention, hut failed, and before they could inform, the stand attendant, the r.*noke had been discovered issuing fnm under the seats. Near the corner from which the smoke was there are wires.