HEMP CARGO & FIRE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1684, 26 February 1913, Page 8

HEMP CARGO & FIRE.

OVER £8000 DAMAGES,

| :1N HOLD OP THE MATATUA. (By- Telegraph.—Press Association.) Timaru, February 25. At ; 1.40 this horning a firo was discovered to have broken out in No. 5 hold of the steamer Matatua, which arrived ill port yesterday. Tho ship's fire apparatus was soon fixed in position, and all the ventilators-and air passages were blocked immediately the alarm was given, thus, preventing further conflagration. The cargo is composed of hemp, and the cause of tho outbreak is as yet uuknown.. ■ Tho main deck in the proximity of the hatch was very much heated before the extinguisher got to work. - ■ The fire was got under beforo noon. Tho hatches were taken off, and the captain of the steamer and two'firemen went into the hold. Soon after' air got into the hold, bales of flax burst into flames, but water was poured on thefn, and the 6moking bales were hoisted on to tho : wharf, where water was again poured on them. By tho. united efforts of water, chemicals, 'and steflm, the fire was got under, and a serious oonHagration averted. As the flax was shipped at Auckland nothing is known here of the insurances or the shippers. The damage is Estimated at from .£BOOO to"J2IO,OOQj / Tho Vessel herself ( .is thought to have suffered little. A'general average will be struck, and possibly' the flax auctioned here. The work of fully unloading No. 5 hold, is proceeding. /