FIRE IN WHATAUPOKO

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2583, 18 August 1909, Page 7

FIRE IN WHATAUPOKO

FIVE-ROOMED DWELLING DESTROYED. At 10.40 o’clock last night the bell in Gladstone Road rang out an alarm of fire, and a bright glare was seen in the sky in the driection of Whataupoko. The Fire Brigade, under Superintendent Townley, proceded to the scene of the conflagration, but as no water was available they could do little. The house destroyed, situated at the foot of the' Whataupoko hills, near the end of Fox Street, was a five-roomed, weather-board cottage, owned by the Sievwright estate, and rented by Mr. Wm. Pilcher, who is at present in Ashburton. Mr. Walter Pilcher, his brother, also lived in the house, and left there last evening a little after 7 p.m., to attend a dance in Erskine’s Hall. He left no fire in the house. Shortly after 10 o’clock, Mr. T. Andrews, who resides near by, saw a glare coming from the eastern window of the house. He immediately aroused his son, and they went to the scene of the fire, but it was already boy-ond control, and the flames, fanned by a stiff breeze, soon enveloped the building, sending out such a heat that trees several yards distant caught alight, and blazed up fiercely. Nothing was saved, And Mr. Walter Pilcher states that the value of his personal belongings in the house would amount to over £4O, there being £lO In notes in a drawer. The furniture was insured in the State Office, but for how much could not last night he ascertained. It is understood that the house is.also covered by insurance.