FIRE AT DUNEDIN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2348, 2 January 1915, Page 10

FIRE AT DUNEDIN

IN BING, HARRIS & COMPANY'S WAREHOUSE ESTIMATED DAMAGE £30,000 (By Telegraph.—lTeaa Association.) Dunedln, January 1. Shortly after nmo o'clock a fire broko out in the premises of Messrs Bing, Harris and Co , w arehousemeu, m High Street It originated in the tobacco department, and it is conjectured that the I firo was duo to tho overheating of the tobacco^ Tho premises had been closed since December 24, and so far as is known no I one had entered them'since. The'fire was confined to a compara-' | tivcly small space upstairs, and the damage, which appears to bo very expensive, was not nearly so much due to this element as to water The firo originating upstairs, caused tho water j to descend in copious quantities to the | flats beneath, and tins necessarily damaged the fabrics and othei goods stocked, This damago was further added to by tho fact that tho floors have a I slight slope, and consequently tho water lan pretty well all over tho | building The damage is roughly approximated at £30,000 This is of courso largely guesswork. Tho insurance on the stock is roughly put down at £60,000 or £60,000. tho risk being divided among nearly all'the I offices in tho town , Tho building, which, is not much damaged, is lnsuredifor something like £6000 or £7000 Yery little difficulty •was o\penenced in extinguishing the firo once its locality was ascertained, but it had aoquned such a hold that extensu e use of water became necessary The building did not contain an automatic fire alarm, otherwise ; tho damage done, according to expert.opinlon, would have been reduced to a mere bagatelle. ______