FIRES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 172, 19 January 1912, Page 5

FIRES.

A STORE DESTROYED. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. Moffatt's general store at Oparau was burned down this morning, nothing being saved. The owner is a heavy loser.' It is believed both stock and store have small insurances in the State Office. The building was unoccupied at the time of the outbreak. OUTBREAK AT PATEA. Shortly before 10 o'clock on Wednesday morning a fire broke out in the roof of the office of the West Coast Refrigerating Company, and, but for its timely discovery, would in all probability have resulted in the destruction of the whole of the buildings (reports the Patea Press). Mi 1 . J. Thomson, accountant to the company,'was working in the office at the time, and was disturbed by a crackling sound from overhead. He immediately investigated the cause of it, and found that the apex of the gable was on fire. He thereupon gave the alarm. The fire brigade were quickly assembled and made for the fire. In the meantime the hands at the Grading Works and the railway offeials set to work with the railway lire buckets, which were hanging in the station filled with water. They were handed up to the men who had mounted the roof, and quickly quenched the flames. Though the actual fire was slight and the damage almost nil, it was a very close call, and few realised at the time the tremendous possibilities with which the outbreak was fraught. The cause of the outbreak is attributed to a spark from the engine-house chimney becoming lodged in the gable. There were in the works roughly 5000 cases of cheese and 4000 boxes of butter. Reckoning the former at £4 per case and the latter ,at £2 15s per box, the stock alone, which might have been jeopardised, amounted to £31,000. If your property is not insured, call at or ring up the United Insurance Company, Ltd., Devon street; telephone 108. Webster Bros., District agents, j Insurances effected on the most favor-] able terms. —Advt.