FIRE AT WHANGAREI.

Te Aroha News, Volume XVI, Issue 222034, 9 January 1900, Page 2

FIRE AT WHANGAREI.

TWENTY BUILDINGS BURNED.

(From our own Correspondent.) Whangarei, Last Night. An extensive fire occurred in Cameron Street, Whangarei, .at three a.m. today. Twenty buildings were destroyed, including the following : Whangarei Hotel, Cockbum (blacksmith), Stanton (oyster rooms), Crawford (confectioner), Gocher (fruiterer), Cummings (watchmaker), Tothill (land agent), Miss Smith (dressmaker), Kelly (cabinetmaker), Fisher (grocer and baker), Frodsham (storekeeper and grocer), Brown (fancy goods), old Temperance Hall, Dando (cabinetmaker), Mrs Stewart (dressmaker), S. Bawnsley (kauri gum merchant), Courtney (boot and shoemaker), and the dwelling-house occupied by Mr* Neary. The fire originated in a building occupied by Mr T. Crawford, sugar boiler, and owned by Mr James Main, and burned with fierce rapidity owing to the dry nature of the timber, then it spread to the Whangarei Hotel despite tremendous efforts made to prevent it, and in an amazingly short period this building was a mass of flames. Soon both sides of the street were ablaze. The fire spread rapidly, and it was soon evident that the three blocks adjacent were doomed. In two hours from the beginning nothing was left but chimney stacks and burning embers. The loss is variously esti-. mated as from £12,000 to £15,000, only a small portion of which is covered by insurance.