Destruction of Coulthard's Flaxmill, Te Aroha, By. Fire. LOSS £400.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 332, 9 January 1889, Page 2

Destruction of Coulthard's Flaxmill, Te Aroha, By. Fire. LOSS £400.

Ye^erpay afternoon a spark from the engine funnel set fire to some waste tow, etc., on the ground outside Mr Coulthard's and in a few minutes afterwards it was scon f;hafc the flax in the adjoining building had caught fire also ; it is supposed by soi^e, of the burning material having been, blown underneath the bujidjnp, as there, was quite a strong breeze at "the tune. Strenuous efforts were made |o extinguish the fire, not only by the mill haiuls, bu,t ajgp by a number of willing hqlpers who had been attracted to the sQei^e, byifc q\yiu.g to the highly inflatnm able naitur- of the material and the strong breege blowing ai the time, their efforts were qf little us"., and it was soon seen the whole concer.n -was doomed ; and in the course qf a couple of hours liftle remained beyond a nqass pf smouldering ruins. The quantity of flax on hand af; {he time of the conflagration it was'estimated would yield about ten tons'ftf \\\§ finished article, reaily for balyig) whole of which, together with the scutching machine, two baling presses, b^il^-in-s, a waggon, etc., were completely 1 destroyed ; the lops being roughly estimated at between L3OO and L 400 .' Tl^e eight horse power engine autl oilier, plant at the northern end of the. c.onoern escaped injury. MrCoulthard was away from Te Aroha atihe time of theooenr-ri-nce, the mill being in charge <$ Mr C tie, his minuter. We believo no^ portion of the 1039 \yas covered by in^ur'iUH'e. General sympatiiy is expressed for Mr Ct»ulth.'ird in \\\a 10-s.