FIRE AT CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2189, 20 July 1886, Page 3

FIRE AT CAMBRIDGE.

Afovr ROOMKn cottage, tho veVtdonee of M* Tlioma* Xiland, situated on auction 2rdo^nalw allotments, and fronting toWoldwas observed, by the neighbours, to bo On tiro about dusk on Saturday* Every etfoitwas made to extinguish tho flames, bit tht»y had obtained too strong: si hold, artd all that could bo saved was a shod near at hand. Mr Xiland, who is well known in Oambndgo, is a bachelor, living alone : his si&er who used to keep house for. hint having boon away from homo lately. It appears Mr Xilaikl attended Buckland's vvle in Ihe foivnoon, ntier which lie wont homo and lit a tire to make some tea to d>,ink with lm lunch. Tho tiro, however, wflpt out before tho kettle Itoiled, and talcing a drink of milk instead ho finished his lunch and rotiunod to tho hor.se snle, leaving, as he imagined, eveiytlnng h.ifo at home. When he hoard of the tire at the sale ho l\a#v s fiqd back to find hi.s Ihuho in H.ime^. Mr n. (Jarland, bntoher, called at the house with meat an hour before the fire, when everything appeared all risrht. Mr Niland estimates his loss over the insurance at from £70 to t'SO, independent of a sum of Jt!7 which was in single notes placed in the pocket of a pair of trousers Mt in the hor.se. A valuable cattle dog had been left in charge of the premises, and it appears that although loose, tho poor animal had retreated under the house from the flames, until it got to the front where there was no pjg,pe of exit. Its cries were most pitiful, ftud seeing the impossibility of rescuing the poor brute, one of the bystanders merefully killed it with a blow fijom an axe, putting it out of its misery. The house was lately insured in the Standard foiv£l2o, but had been transfered from that office to the National, in which it was insured for £00, and the furniture, •etc in the same office for £20.