Fire at Te Aroha.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43088, 4 May 1907, Page 3

Fire at Te Aroha.

ee o’clock yesterday morning the ; y° luDteer ®* re Brigade was called out - by an alarm rung on the fire bell. The S.ene of the conflagration turned out to be Belmont House, occupied as a boarding-house by Mr L. H. Gordon, situated opposite the Domain at the corner of Eolleston street. It appears that Mr Gordon was about to relinquish business, and had arranged with Mr Spooner to sell the contents by auction to-day, but unfortunately the house-1

hold goods had not been removed from the premises when the fire 1 oocurred. When the brigade, consisting : of Captain Crickett, Lieutenant Biggs, j and eight firemen arrived, the flames j had already obtained a firm hold on the j

building, and it was evident from tbe j first that -the brigade was figbtingagainst J heavy odds. The fire appears to have j ... originated in the sitting-room situated at. the outside corner of the building, and ■-the cause is said to bo a defective chimne. leading from the grate in which a fire had been burning on the previous evening, and in this room was stored a large quantity of bed-linen and other household goods, packed up ready to convey to the auction mart. Mr Mai tin O’Meagher, who lives in the next house, in Rolleston- street, was the first to notice

the fire, and promptly rang the alarm on the Kenrick-street bell. Even at this time the fire was spreading rapidly, and i r Gordon, who was sleeping in the rear room on the Rollestou-sti eet side, was awakened by the cries of a child in the same room, evidently feeling the effects of the thick smoke which was

pouring through a manhole in the ceiling He promptly assisted Mrs Gordon and the child through the window, and then rendered assistance to the servant and a boarder, who escaped none to soon. Then the brigade arrived, and the roof through which appeared fh-tres ai various points, presented a difhcul j problem Captain Crickett, after getting tnree lines of hose out, saw that there was little chance of saving the front portion in which the fir.;- had started, and therefore directed his men to attempt t o save the back portion of the building by cutting off the flames at the passage in the centre.

This plan proved fairly effectual, but unfortunately, - as it afterwards turned out, the bulk of the more portable con> tents of the house had been stored, as already stated, in a f ont room, About twenty minutes afi.er the first

- alarm the brigade had the fire well in band, and Captain Crickett, in con versa’ tion with our representative yesterday, spoke very highly of the conduct of his en > saying “ they worked like Britons.” conflagration was a large one, even for ten men to battle with, and the absence of Foreman McKee, who is at Waikino. was very much felt. We understand that the building and part of the furniture is owned by Mr James Shaw, of Eotorua, being insured for £6OO in the Alliance Office, the furniture being insured for £3OO and the

outhouses for £3O in the same office. Mr Gordon also held a policy for £l5O on some of the furniture in the Government Insurance department. It is estimated that the los& is far in excess of the insurance, and great sympathy is felt for the Gordons in their misfortume