THE GREAT FIRE IN WELLINGTON.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1661, 17 June 1879, Page 3

THE GREAT FIRE IN WELLINGTON.

WELLINGTON, June 16. Lost night’s fire swept ten acres of ground, destroying about thirty buildings. When the strong room of the branch Bank ol New Zealand was opened this morning, the walls were found to be blackened with smoke, but all the contents were uninjured. Amongst the contents were all the papers connected with the Rhodes’ estate. The buildings destroyed were : —Opera House, Engleman’s fancy bazaar, Eddie and Jack’s bottlers, Working Man’s Club, Stratford’s corn store, Bank of New Zealand, Wareup’s bootmaker, Smart’s oyster shop, Hogarth’s timber yard, Greaves and Fleming’s drapers, Elder’s fruit shop, Rickman’s boot shop, Wesleyan church and school, Simon’s tailor, Young’s oyster shop, Brown’s cabinet maker, Nag’s Head Hotel and stables, Emney’s Hotel, Market Hall, Williams and Cameron’s saddlers, Ashton’s bootshop, and a lot of outbuildings. A good deal of damage was done to Te Aro House. The following is the complete list of insurances on the buildings destroyed '■ — South British £3400 Transatlantic 3000 Standard 2500 New Zealand 2500 Union ... ... 2500 Northern 1500 National ... .. 1450 Colonial 1400 Victoria 1500 North British 1200 Hanseatic 1169 Royal 900 London and Lancashire ... 900 Imperial 600 Magdeburg 500 Guardian 300 Sun 175 Manchester 150 Norwich Union 150

Total £25,625 The Liverpool and London, Globe, and United have no risk. The following are further particulars and incidents of the fire : —Eddie and Jack lost nearly their whole stock, but were heavily insured, the building for £IBSO and the stock for £9OO. Mrs Elder, who for the last few months kept a small fruit shop, was uninsured, and estimates her loss at £3OO. Scott, ironmonger, estimates his loss of stock at £I2OO. He was insured for £BOO. He had fifty busbies and a number of guns which were saved. Cameron saved the whole of his stock, but it was considerably injured in removal. Rickman’s boot and shoe shop contained a large stock worth £BOO. It was partly covered by insurance, and the bulk of it was saved. Simon saved nearly his whole stock. He had only been in his Manners street shop a week. The Wesleyan Church was built about six years ago at a cost of £4OOO. Its value was estimated at £6OOO, but it was only insured for £2OO. Some of Engleman’s stock was removed into the Bank, but as that building was shortly after in flames, the goods were destroyed, John Hogarth’s timber yard, at the back of the Opera House, was insured. He estimates his loss at £IOO, The Naval Brigade did good service in saving property, Gorman, acting custodian of the Opera House, in endeavoring to save the Theatre company’s property, the piano and wardrobe, neglected his own household goods and lost them all, u well as £25 in notes. Joyce, the stage manager of Hiscocks, Hayman and Co. had a narrow escape from losing his life, having once been nearly suffocated with the smoke. Miss Beatrice lost several pieces of valuable jewellery. In the efforts to save Smith’s Te Aro house, every blanket in the shop was used. The goods in the shop were mostly uninjured. The furniture upstairs, however, was utterly ruined. The Imperial Opera House was insured in the New Zealand and South British for £7OOO. The building was only opened in May last year, its total cost, irrespective of land, being £10,459, made up as follows :—Cost of building, £7732 ; stage fittings, £753; decorations and scenery, £990; gas fittings, £500; stall and house fittings and furniture, £778. The branch Bank of New Zealand was uninsured, although there was an insurance formerly upon the building. It is computed that about 12,000 or 13,000 spectators witnessed the fire. Many came in from the Hutt. The surrounding hills were lit up almost as brightly as in the day. There were several narrow escapes from falling chimneys. It is generally agreed that the fire originated in the dome, from which the Imperial Opera House is lighted. Several men belonging to the theatre endeavored to extinguish it with the hose on the premises, of which there were several, but the force of the water was Tery feeble. Had a good stream been plaj ed on the fire from the inside, it might have bs;en checked. It was burning some time before the alarm was raised, but the men inside were suable to cope with it. It spread with great rapidity. When the brigades came up they got a hose onto the top of the building but soon had to gtt away, the flames overpowering everything. The weakness of the flow of water was felt as a great drawback, "When once the Opera House was fairly blazing it sent a sheet of flame up that made the glare distinguishable for thirty miles round. The flames soon leaped Manners street, and in a few minutes the Methodist Church sohoolhouse and a half a dozen shops were blazing. The Bank of New Zealand was close to the Opera House, but being of brick and concrete might have escaped but for the ornamental wooden coping round it. By that means the fire oenetrated the top of the building, and soon all the inside was on fire. It was thought for a long time that the Royal Oak Hotel was in no danger, and the people did not remove anything, but the wind being in that direction carried such a rain of sparks and so much heat that those who were endeavoring to save it with a email hose had to leave it to its fate. As soon •s the Wesleyan church was on fire it was eeen that the Nag’s Head hotel must go, and twenty-two horses were got out of the stables ▼ery sharply by the volunteera, There was now great danger of Te Aro house catching, which must inevitably have carried the fire up Cuba street, and the result must have been appalling. But all of Smith’s shopmen and others manned the top of the building with blankets, and kept these constantly wet. The workers were also obliged to roll themselves in wet blankets to enable them to face the blistering heat and the fire shower that came from the other side of the street. So terrible was the heat sometimes that all had to retire for a few moments. This was the critical