THE CARTERTON FIRE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2048, 22 July 1885, Page 2

THE CARTERTON FIRE.

The most destructive conflagration that has been known in Carterton since a considerable portion of the township.was swept away by a bush fire some six or' seven years ago, occurred yesterday, when three business places were burnt to the ground. .The origin is'not town.' All that can be ascertained • iB that it started in the roof of Mr Bennett's wheelwright and carpenter's shop. Mr Bennett had been working a seven horse power' portable steam engine during the early part of the day, but had slowed down the fire for some time, during which he transacted business with several people who visited him in his office. At twenty minutes past noon he sat down to his dinner, when, on looking out of a window of his dwelling, he saw smoke issuing from the roof, of the workshop, He immediately proceeded to ascertain the cause, I and found that the roof was alight under I the shingles, close to where the funnel of the engine passed through. The fire had too firm a hold to, be put out, and an alarm was therefore given on the bell at the Brigade Station. A considerable number of people quickly collected on the scene, and the men. at ,once busied themselves'in carrying out whatever was movable, not only from Mr Bennett's premises'but also from those of Messrs Rising and Cox, who had a cabinetmaker's workshop adjoining on the southern end, The flames spread with such rapidity that very little could be saved from the former, and only a portion from the latter. The Fire Brigade assembled; with the most-commendable 'celerity, and brought their engine, into play within a few minutes of the alarm being given ; but it • became at once apparent that it was useless to make an attempt to save the two buildings, Mr Bennett's workshop was only separated from the private residence of Mr W, Booth by a right of way twenty feet in width, and the formor being two stories in height the latter was in imminentdanger of being burnt down. The Fire Brigado for a time confined its efforts to this place,- and although the side of the building was very severely scorched, all the plate glass windows broken, and a large number of shingles burnt off the roof, tliey were successful in preventing the flames from spreading in that .direction. Nearly all the furniture was carried out to a safe place, not a little damage being done to it. On the southern side, the office of Messrs Rising anfj Qpx was in imminent danger, but was ultimately saved, Ijaying only been slightly scorched. All the contents wefe removed,' The furniture from Mr Horn's shop, and from' the dwelling of Mr Bowles, (butcher) as well as several other houses' on both sides of the street, was carried out, but thanks to the efforts pf the Brigade, the fire was confined to the two buildings consumed, Only about twenty minutes after the first alarm was given the Greytown Fire Brigade arrived ori the spot; much to 'the surprise of everybody'. It appears thaji pews' of tlje fire |)a(| been flashed down hy wire, and an alarn) bejiig jijinietjjately r'upg, ftienien qf the neighboring towqsl|ips as:jejnbj§(l, got out their engine, and made a start for the scene. Qn their arrival they were greeted with loud cheers by the crowd. Fortunafeoly %ir engine was not required, bqt had the wind been fresh and from a different direction, qiiite a number of buildings would have been in danger indeed, it would have taxed the united efforts of the Brigades to the utmost to save them, As it happened, a considerable number of people woro away, either attending a sale that was being conducted by Mr Wood, or at a meeting of creditors in the estate of one of their townsmen at Masterton. Many of those who went to the former, saw the smoke, and returned as quickly as possible, while those at Masterton broke up their meeting, and gfjt home as best they could. Too imich praise wotty) gjyoi) tp tho members of tho Eire Brigade' for the manner in which ffthey worked, and branchman Crawley must have been'a veritable salamander to stand the heat as he did. The action of the Greytown Brigade is also worthy of all praise, and the men fplly deserved the compliment paid 'tlieiji b| the crowd.' Ijr Bennett estinfates that his srect' loss is about £750. His premises contained a'c,oii : sijjerabje quantity of fixed .machinery, seaspijed tjiiiber, etc,, tjiat coqld not be removed, Thejrpnt part l)ai}, oi)ly just been fitted up as a branch workshop for Mr D. Cameron, coachbuilder, of Greytown, Mr Bennett also suffers an indirect loss, as he depended on his machinery to prepare the timber required for carrying out several contracts whioh he had in . hand, Only about an hour before the fire he had signed a contract for the erection of a music hall in Carterton. He was insured for £SOO in the United. Messrs Rising A Cox also lost some yahja|)le fixtures, but their workshop nop b.eii)g very large, th§ Joss is not so I'ieayy a| Mr Beifnettls, ipieir fyrnlture, which was got out in very fair' was uninsured, and on their premises thoy liad a poljoy fop £160,' Their to? amounts'to jibout £2OO or £225, About LIOO will cover the damage to Mr Booth's house and furniture,' which aro Insured for £500! The total loss may thorefore be set down at £IOSO. The origin of the firo is not known, and is not likely to be further elucidated, All that is known is that tjfe ijainej) fyrftke oijj: jnsjfje the buildnlg, where tlie funnel qf tjie engine passed through the roof, and it is therefore supposed that a spark had dropped down, and settled betweon the . shingles and lining. The latter, being .dry, would, of course, be the first to catch. It is said that the engine has a unfortunate record. It was at one jime'the property qf W. Francis, wiio ; 'usetl' it io drive a threshing machine', and ' while thus employed'fwo lots of stacks where it was at work were l)[)pt,dqwn. An examination by pracjfcj.cal men yesterday led to the conclusion tiiac it'haif bi?'en dg.mag.efj a® exlent that it is not worth 'repalriilg." JJjr way of increasing tlje excitement, a fhinpipy in tho Marquis of .fyormanby Hotel b)azed fqrt)i lustily sljorjjly after 0 p.m., but tjioro bejiig a pf willing hands about, it wap quickly put out, Ml'Buckeridge statps thatije liad everyohimneyin the,house swept last week. Tho.flaro up was oaused In a very simple manner, a man in the bar who had been served with a glass of rum having thrown the spirit on the burning logs in the five pjace. The roof being wet, the pmis.es were not pndi^erfid,