GREAT FIRE IN DUNEDIN.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 73, 25 August 1874, Page 3

GREAT FIRE IN DUNEDIN.

[Daily Times, August 22.] A most destructive fire broke out at about four o’clock this morning, on the premises of Messrs Guthrie and Larnach, Princes street. There was a watchman on the premises, but it is not known how the fire originated. The flames spread with amazing rapidity, the place being filled with wood, and in a few minutes everything was in a blaze, from Princes street back to Bond street. In about ten minutes the Spanish restaurant took .fire and was soon burned to the ground, some of the lodgers having only time to escape by ropes from the windows. The Old Immigration Barracks were saved with difficulty, and the inmates had to leave in haste, some in their night-dresses with whatever of their goods they could just lay hands on. The pavement for 100 yards was strewn with property of various Kinds, and huddled between boxes and furniture were dozens of half-dressed women and children. The brigades had to play on the Prince of Wales Hotel and other buildings on the opposite side of the road to save them, as the heat was intense. From the lateness of the hour we were unable to get the amount of the insurances. We believe that Messrs Guthrie and Larnach are heavily insured, but with respect to the Spanish Restaurant we have heard nothing. The loss by the fire will bo heavy, as a large quantity of valuable machinery has been destroyed, as well as stock and buildings. The brigades and police worked well, but the alarm was not given until the fire had illuminated half the town. The Guardian furnishes the following particulars :—At a few minutes to four o’clock this morning Messrs Guthrie and Larnach’s establishment, in Princess street South, was discovered to be on fire. The flames speedily extended throughout the entire place, from Princes to Crawford street, and enveloped the whole building in flames. The vast piles of timber stored in the premises took fire in very little time, and sent up volumes of flame such as have not hitherto been witnessed in Dunedin. The fire soon extended to the premises of Messrs Haworth and Co., situated between the sawmills of Messrs Guthrie and Larnach and the Spanish Restaurant. The latter building also was speedily in flames, and, being at the time crowded with lodgers, quite a stampede was the consequence. It was with great difficulty its occupants managed to escape, as the building was a threestorey one, and of a most inflammable description, Some persons had to be let down from the windows by means of ropes. All the new arrivals cleared out of the Old Barracks, as they were in rather dangerous proximity to the Spanish restaurant, The Fire Brigade was promptly on the spot, but their efforts were unable to save either Guthrie and Larnach’s building, that of Haworth Brothers, or the Spanish. At the time of our going to press the fire was raging furiously. The loss of property will bo enormous.