A GREAT BLAZE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 October 1917, Page 4

A GREAT BLAZE.

11EAIIT OF DANNEVIRKE DEVAS •mm DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT £200,000. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Dannevirke, Last Night. Dannevirke will have good cause to long remember Labor Day of 1917. A most disastrous fire devastated the heart of the commercial area, which ia now a scene of desolation, only brick walls and gaunt chimney stacks giving «n indication of where business places did a flourishing business. The blow to the town is a most disastrous one, as, apart from the structures and stock which have perished, hundreds of employee* will, ba worklesß, and a great dislocation in business must ensue before the low can be made good.

The Are bell was to have been given a trial ring at 6.30 p.m., structural alterations having jußt been completed, but four hours earlier it waft given an urgent test, on account of an 'Outbreak in Andrews' Hotel, an immense old wooden building, situated on the comer ot High and Station streets, one of the relics of the days when coaches played a part in the through trip to ■Wellington.

The westerly gale blowing fanned the flames from the rear of the hotel, iand within three minutes the whole of the upper portion was wrapped in flames, which were licking up greedily everything in their path. The occupantil of the place barely had time to make xheir exit, and some of the housemaids had to be rescued from the balconies.

Though the brigade got early to work, the primitive appliances and gigantic nature of the conflagration made tieir ' efforts appear puny. Within a few minutes the whole place was a holocaust,' and the. flames jumped the wide street, to the Dannevirke Co-operative Association's big storehouse, opposite Andrews' Hotel, and soon this was a roaring inferno, endangering also the Club Hotel, facing the railway station. Fortunately the wind was blowing away from this, and, though in grave danger for. a time, it escaped. Not so the Masonic Hotel—another another ancient wood landmark on the east side of Higli street. This caught as th« flames from Miller's shop spread south, and isoon both sides of the main thoroughfare were being demolished with incredible rapidity. Despite the efforts of the Are fighters, the flamel spread e4st and frest, north and south.

The Dannevirke Gas Company's gasometers. on the section at the reaT 'of the Masonic Hotel, were right within the danger zone, the fences all around bein™ destroved, but the flames were kept back from the gasometers. The fire started shortly After two o'clock, atid it was well «n toward five o'clock before it could be said that the Dannevirke and Woodville fire Brigade* had got tl/e upper hand. Even then the danger was not all over, huge masse* of burning debris being visible in all directions.

There was no loss of life and no serious accidents. Places not far from the scene of the conflagration were salvaged bv hundreds of onlookers, and It was the busiest Labor Day the helpers over put in. Furniture, draperv, crockery, and, in fact, ail unimaginable collection of articles of all descriptions were littered on the thoroughfares, highways and byways, within half a mile of the'blaze. ' Dannevirke has undoubtedly received a terrific blow commercially, and an estimate of the loss is absolutely impossible at present, but it will rim, probably, within the vicinity of £200,000, if not more. THE PLACES DESTROYED. The places destroved were all. practlc ally a totn.l loss. They were as follows: Andrews' Hotel. Harris and Son, livery stables. John P. Engelbretsen, draper. Theodore Wysocke, tailor. Richard Roakc. auctioneer. ' Leo Wong, laundry. Dannevirke Co-operative Association Limited. Arthur Henry Hill, tobacconist Peter J. Nymahd, jeweller, Rosset, tailor. Tlios. .T. Flynn bootmaker. B. O. Thomson, hairdresser, Edward E. Prior, chemist. James Neagle, motor importer. Rose. Ltd.. building. John Percival Dodds, music store. Lucy Miller, confectioner. Lionel P. Bartlett. bookmaker. Drummond, Hodder and Co, iron* mongers.

George L. Bartlett, hairdresser and to« baccouist. ,0. Hooper, hairdresser and tobacconist. Arthur C. Webber, bookseller. George A. Charman, restaurant keeper. Malcolm McC&llum, watchmaker/ Masonic Hotel. Kuing Kce and Co., fruiterers. Armstrong and Morrison, drapers. Dannevirke and Herbertville Coaching Co. Collett, and Sons, iron foundry. In addition to these, sample rooms and outbuildings of all descriptions wer* added to the flame 9, and even the roadway took fire. THE INSURANCES. The Dannevirke Co-operative Association were probably the biggest losers, their stock being valued at present prices at approximately £50,000, while the insurance totals about £25,000. This firm employed 70 hands. Andrews' Hotel, owned by Messrs Andrews and Lavoile, was insured, but the amount is not ascertainable. The Masonic Hotel, owned by the Allardice Estate, wag also insured, but details are unknown.

Most of the other places were insured, also the stocks, the policies running into many thousands. 'Practically all the insurance companies are heavily hit, while the loss will be many thousands in excess of the insurances. Two out of four hotels Were burned; three out of four tobacconists, and there is practically only one grocery business of any site left. Business must be greatly dialocated. The losses are doubly big, on account of the shops being heavy stocked in view of the Christmas trade. Some of the sufferers will be financially ruined.