FIRE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1336, 26 March 1883, Page 2

FIRE.

On, Saturday evening shortly after 9 o'clock the dwelling-house of Mi\R, !■ G. Williams in Queen-street was ■' destroyed by fire. It appears that the eldest child, a girl about 11 years of age went into a bed-room where two of the children were sleeping, to' get a ; nightdress taking with her a lighted candle, which slid in ad vertontly • placed too near the • window curtains. ; A . few minutes after Mrs Williams observed ;a bright glare in the room, and : on going to ascertain the cause was- horrified to find it in 1 flames. So rapidly had the fire spread ; that the .bed on which the' children i slept'was alight, one of them"having some ; of the bair on its head singed, and its liead and face blackened by the smoke, before being rescued by its mother. In making her way from the house Mrs Williams was met by Mr Thompson and another gentleman . who -had been attracted by the. children's screams, and. the whole family were taken to. some-of the neighboring houses which were kindly 1 opened for" their reception. By this time the alarm was general, the fire- [ bell gave out its worning note, shouts rent the air, and in a few minutes a large crowd had collected, and with it the members of the Fire Brigade.. . To get the big engine out was the work of a 1 Very few minutes, but to get water appeared a very difficult task, ■ At last the large engine was placed beside the garden fence .of Mr Pavton in Dixon-street, and the suction hose dropped into the creek, but;the depth of water was not sufficient to enable the pumps to work satisfactorily, so a stoppage was made whilst a hole was sunk to put the hose into. When this was done agoodsupply wasobtainedand although there were seven lengths of delivery hose attached, a good stream was eventually brought to bear upon the ruins. Another mishap at this stage occurred, the pumpers started too energetically on the big engine, and almost at the first stroke they broke a piece of iron in the interior of tlw machine which crippled it, A rush was then made back to the engine shed for the smaller ■ engine, and it was rapidly brought down to the spot and its hose run' out and filled. These successive delay? gave the fire half-an-hour's grace, and by ..the time the water was ready it was "practically useless, Whilst the brigade were doing their utmost to obtain their water supply several volunteers: were busy with pails keeping the adjacent property cool, and men were stationed on the roofs of the Prince of Wales Hotel; the Bank of New Zealand and other adjacent houses watching for the foiling sparks. Mr Thompson, whose Horso Repository adjoins Mr William's property, lost no time in getting the horses and buggies from his building to a place of safety, and the fact of his building being all iron, no doubt acted as a goodly preventive to the spread of the fire, Fortunately there was little or no wind, and the sparks ascended and descended almost perpendicularly, The burning cottage was a detached one, the nearest structure on the light being nearly a chain off, and I the horse repository on,the left being three quarters of a chain' distant. Had there been a breeze much mischief might have been done during the halfbour that the brigade was crippled. There is a well in the immediate neighborhood of Mr Williams house specially sunk for firo brigade purposes, but for some deplorable want of foresight it has never been properly cleaned out, and the firemen- did not venture to .make use ofit as there was a danger of their ' hose being choked with sand. Had this well been clear and the smaller engine brought down to it, water might have been available in about seven minutes instead of. about thirty. The men at the pumps worked' well and beguiled their monotonous task by: vocal exercises, in which vigor prevailed over harmony. ■' Whiskey for my Johnny," and"Pull;for the shore" were the leading pieces practised by the water lifters, but they put more soul into the former than into the latter. Captain Muir on this occasion was away from Masterton, and the; Brigade possibly, were placed at ai disadvantage by the absence of this experienced leader. However, with one exception, the members obeyed the orders of the next in command. The member to whom we specially allude had some doubt about the expediency of an order given to him, and openly refused to execute it. This of course indicated' either a want of discretion on the part of the officer, or an' unpardonable breach of discipline on the'part of the man, tfo doubt it will in due course form the subject of an official inquiry, and ;we do not wish at the present stage to discuss it further.

i The house whicVis the property-of Mr Kingdon of Nelson, is insured we understand for £250. 'There was formerly, an insurance, on the furniture, but it has been allowed to lapse. By a: singular coincidence on the very day i of the fire the furniture was advertised for.-sale under a distress warrant; > -The claim against it was, however, but' a small one, and Mr Williams.is a heavy sufferer by the loss of his goods and chattels,..:,.We may mention -that Mr Wagg, of the Prince of Wales Hotel, acted veijvliberally.'during the firep'by. sending;" out' refreshments to ''the I; members of the. and,; to ,ihe { men working the pumps/ ,;>