FIRE IN FORT STREET

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 210, 9 July 1887, Page 5

FIRE IN FORT STREET

Auckland,, -3 iilyT7. ' Shortly after one o'clock this inswnain.j» Constable Mavfcyn, who was on ,dutry.jni Queen-street, discovered that a iiaie .vrfts in! progress in Scherff s Buildings, Ecvrt-sti'eetJ H« promptly gave the alarm and in a wery; short space of time the Fire Brigade nndi ►Salvage Corps were in attendance. XUefire appeared to have started iv the upper storey, in the portion occupied 1 by the "Owl" printing office. Tlie i\ve\ had got a good hold when first di«-; covered, and consequently by the tkuen that the water was turned on and the, ilamea suppressed the office in which! .the lire commenced was completely, mitted. Of course all the other oilices joju \ the ground floor were damaged by water- ; As the building is built, of brick, the 1 kvgade had little trouble in confining the iw to the block in which it staited. An ! examination of the premises this morning disposes that great damage has resulted to the | oodsstoredinotherportiousof the buildings. The Owl printing oliice was owned by Mr Edmund A. JETai rington. He states that la^t njight he, in company with Sir \V. H. Coopev was in the oilice from 8 till 10 o'clock. Before they left they put out all the lighj s, and everything appeared right. As there was no file in the office he is at a lo*~ to assign a cause for the origin of £\e lire. His plant was insured for°L'23o \i\ the South British Company. Mr U. H. Wood will be rather a heavy josser by t!>o fire. It appears that Mr \Vood trav^s lound the countiy with drapery, etc. When in town lie stores his gQuls in Mr Fainey'.s sample rooms. He retiirned to lowji last Friday and left goods malted by him at about L6OO in the buijdiny«, Ab he intended to leave town again neHFiiday Mr J.Vood did not insure hisbiook. The resuL'. is that his stock has been greatly damaged by water, and of couue l;e ih com])eH"d to bear the whole loss. Mr Kainey used his ofHce as a sample room. He estimated that he had about LI OO vortji of stock jUi hand, ami the greater pat/- of that is aleo damaged by water. Both these gentlemen have hired a room of Mr G. W. Kinney in which to hU>re their goods until further ariangejncnts have been made. The other occupants of the olHces are also jtiob insured, but as they wexe merely offices containing book's and papers their loss wjll not be great. Mr Scherlfs office lias, strange to hay, escaped injury, and that is app.uontly the only one. The following are the other occupants of the premise.*- :— Mr T. L. WJiite, accountant, and also the office of the Apple Farm Co. ; Messrs Baber and Raw lings, commission agents, Smith and M"iluer, l.iw fctutioners, Mr A. Htenhouse, Captain Worsp (marine surveyor), Mr R. K. Davis, T. J. J. Allen, Way mouth and Son, also the Fitzioy Timber Co., Auckland Native Lands Colonization Co., Taupiii Extended Coal Company, Waikato Coal and Shipping Company, Waikato Timber Company, and the Oamaru Woollen Company. Tins morning members of the Salvage Corps were still engaged sweeping out the water and clearing away the debri-,. Detectives Tiiohy and Doolan weie early and made the usual enquiries, but failed to eilicit any information that would throw light upon the oiigin of the lire.