FIRE.

The Sawyers' Arms Hotel at Papanui, owned and occupied by Mr J. Cooper, was burned to the ground last evening. Mr Cooper states that the hotel was closed us" usual at ten o'olock, and at 10.30 the family retired for the night. At about 11.45 Mrs Cooper was awakened by the smell of fire, and roused her husband. They found that the partition in the dining-room, close to the chimney, was in a blaze. Help was quickly at hand, and buckets of water were thrown on the fire, but it had by that time got too strong a hold to be dealt with in this manner, and the dense smoke and heat drove the workers out. The building was a wooden structure, very old,. and the timbers were as dry as tinder, and in a little" over three-quarters of an hour from the time the fire was first discovered the walls had fallen in, and the whole was :i mass of smouldering ruins. This , is the second time the hotel has been destroyed by fire, the building occupied by Mr Cooper having been built some twenty-three years ago in place cf the Oid Sawyers' Arms when it was burnt down. The ! insurances a3 far as can be ascertained are .£IOOO on the house and .£3OO on the stock j nnd furniture, both in the Commercial Union office. Mr Cooper has occupied the ! hotel for the past nine years. The origin of the fire is a mystery. The two chemical engines turned out, but after | going to the North Belt, and seeing that the fire was a considerable distance out of town, they returned.