TE AROHA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2109, 14 January 1886, Page 2

TE AROHA.

(from our own correspondent.) TeAroha, Wednesday. A little before one o'clock yesterday morning the inhabitants were aroused from their slumbers by the startling cry of " fire " which, together with the note of alarm rung out by our town crier with his bell, speedily brought most of them to the streets or to their doors or windows. The conflagration arose from a detached three roomed cottage in the north part of the town and occupied by a miner named John Wallace, who is also the owner. Prompt assistance was rendered by persons living near at hand, but the fire had got too strong a hold before it was discovered, and all that could be saved was a few articles of furniture. The building was insured for £50 in the South British, but Mr Wallace estimates his loss at more than double that amount. The prevalence of fires during this exceptionally dry season should bring home to the minds of the residents the necessity of procuring for the town a better water supply than is now at command. In fact, we are, in our present condition, utterly unprepared to cope with a blaze of any magnitude, and were a calamity of the kind to occur in our main street, the greater part of the town might be destroyed and nothing could be done to prevent it. Few places have the natural advantages which are here possessed for meeting such a want. In the creek that flows from the mountain through the centre of the town, there is a plentiful and never failing supply of the necessary element, and at a comparatively trifling cost this could be utilised, by means of a small reservoir and a few hundred yards of pipes, so as to be available in any emergency. Looking to what has occurred elsewhere, and what may at any time happen here, it seems almost criminal to neglect the facility thus offered for securing to some extent the safety of the town, and the subject is one that should receive without delay the serious consideration of propertyholders. The Minister of Public Works is expected to arrive here to day, his visit being, presumably, one of inspection of the railway and other works. It is likely he will be interviewed by a deputation or two, and tho opportunity will be taken of _ to urge upon him the necessity for opening the line at the earliest possible date.