FIRES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2771, 29 March 1910, Page 5

FIRES.

SERIOUS FIRE IN CHRISTCHURCH.

r Pic ii Pmcss Association. 1 CHRISTCHURCH, March 28. A serious fire occurred after midnight in. a row of shops in Manchester Street. The top floor throughout the •building was occupied by Bunting and Co., brushmakers. Five shoos on the lower floor were occupied hy Bollan t(bootmaker), Howland '(hairdresser), McPhail and Fisher (leather merchants), and two- tea J rooms. Mi*. 'Bunting also had a building at the hack of the shops. When the alarm was given, a large portion of the front building was ablaze. The fire brigade, 'consequently, had the utmost difficulty in dealing with the outbreak. The flames spread rapidly to both floors. The new high-pressure water supply 'gave a plentiful provision, but the contents of the shops and factory .were highly inflammable. It was after two o’clock when the fire was in hand. The Trocadero Private Hotel at one time 'was threatened, and Scott’s motor ‘works were in danger. Mr Bunting owned the building and factory, which were valued at £4500. The stock was valued at £7OOO. Mr. Bunting says that no one had been in his factory since Thursday. He is unable to. account for the fire. An outbreak occurred in the same block at Easter, 1907. The insurances, as far as at present ascertainable are as follows: Bunting and Co.’s building, £2700 in the South "British Office; contents, £2700 in the New Zealand Office, £IBOO in the Commercial Union. £6OO in the National, £425 in the Australian Alliance, £425 in the United, and £375 in the Standard. McPhail and Fisher, occupiers of one of the shops in Bunting’s buildings, ' £270 in the National Office. THE WANGANUI FIRE. WANGANUI, March 28. Gilberd and l Sons, whose soap works wer destroyed on Saturday night, estimate their loss at between £2500 and £3OOO above the insurance. During the fire a fireman badly scalded a foot by stepping into boiling tallow.