GREAT FIRE IN TIMARU.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 104, 28 December 1868, Page 311

GREAT FIRE IN TIMARU.

IMMENSE DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY.

(From the Timaru. Herald, 9th December.) Monday last-may indeed be called “ black Monday ” for TiinarU, as on that day there ' occurred one of the roost disastrous fires that has ever taken place in New Zealand—a..fire that swept:away over 30 buildings, destroyed aa far as w-ea h present at least £70,000 worth of property., , Unfor tunately. the wind was blowing fiercely [ from the north-west at the time, and to this cause may be assigned the reason that so many, .buildings, both isolated and in blocks, were destroyed, as the wind carried the burning embers and fired the shingled roofs of houses 200 or even 300 yards distant freyn where the fire was "raging. • As the Timaru Herald office was destroyed, and ail: our staff engaged in saving what was possible from the burning building, we cannot give in this issue so full ah account of the tremendous conflagration as we should have .wished. tyhe following is a list of the buildings destroyed:—; ON THE WEST SIDE, MAIN SOUTH HOAD. Mr D. Munro’a furniture warehouse; Mr Kitson’s office (New Zealand Insurance Company); Mr Nelson, tailor; Mr Knight, painter; Mr Wood, saddler; Mr Seymourj watchmaker;; Mr Solomon, draper; Mi French, seedsman ; Mr younghusband, bookseller; Mr Greer, tobacconist; Mr Jacobs, which rr aker; ’Mr Eskine, grocer ; Mr ; Mr; [Williamson’s iFostiaßd Telegraph bffices;;.private cot-. ". tago up Q-eorge-street; Messrs Clarkson and Turnbull’s warehouses; Mr Beldy, , hairdreßser ; Mr Butler, chemist ; Messrs Clarksbri& Turn bull’s ironmongery store; the Timaru Herald offices; Mr 1). Salomon, .draper;-Mr 3ilton, bookseller; Mr Byrne s private house ; Executors James Kibg,'butcher’s shop and house ; Messrs • M‘Caa - and Morgan, bakers ; - Mr Hitch, tinsnaith. • v ■ , j ON-THEEAST SIDE, MAJN SOUTH HOAD. •: .Mr .Weaver, [tailor;; an empty shop ; prerriisesibfdHeiTimaru' Butchering Com* .Hotel;;." photographer; Mr. Melton, privite house.; Mr Melton’s Btables; Mr ' occupied by Fraaer BTbthers. butchers. andMrPogbno wski.liairdreaser; a small , : 'jpriv i ate;;hb'uise. ' l^<^[:;'’ ThefollbwingbuUdingswere damaged: drapers .. .-Mr. !' '^-^^ib^ej^asl;firat;|seen ; put .in v^a;>cabinei^ -"furhitui^Wat^bi^V^^The ' £ 3r’eaMh|abseUt • fpr^fe^^ Muhroi who was.in his front store, was told tliat his workshop was .on; fire, lie -immediately; rushed to the spot and'en- ?; deavored to confibethe fire to that locality. .^|^bfc^aUsTfibr.^|mad.eJt;weire?futi)e,' L Bs[ the .futtlwfcurttlie IlSSpllteipliP

of timber. Tiie warehouse rp & Co. was in imminent danger; being only ; about twelve; or -fourteen.; feet fysin Mr (MUnro’s:. furniture warehouse, .butjS body of men set to wort'to cover tliie roofs and portions/: of the building the fire with blankets keeping, them well saturated, with water. which was fortunately handy. At one time the danger was so great that the windows in that part of, the warehouse, the most removed from the firei were smashed open, and gangs of men were employed inre.moving tue stock to a building inthe vicinity. As soon as it .was perceived that the warehouse niU3t be destroyed, a large body of men set to work to save as much.as possible of< the stock inside the building:, and the street opposite was covered with a quantity; ol furniture and miscellaneous goods. We believe a large quantity of furniture was thus saved, but still Mr Munro is a heavy loser, as we understand he was uninsured.

Meanwhile the fire burnt and soon enveloped the .offices of Mr Kitson, and the shop of Mr Nelson, tailor, in a broad sheet of flame. .From these build ings-we are not aware if any goods were saved. The shops of Mr Kuiglit, pointer, and Mr Wood saddler, were then caught, and speedily succumbed to the flames. At this point, an attempt was made to arrest the fire, as between Mr Wood’s and the next house, occupied by Mr Seymour, watchmaker, there is a gap of about 2u feet, by pulling down the shop of Mr Wood, but all to no purpose, as long before the verandah posts were cut away, the fire had taken a firm hold of the building. A few goods were saved from thebe buildings, but we believe of comparatively small value, and Mr Wood is a considerable loser, although insured. One or two men employed in the upper storey of Mr Wood’s in throwing goods into the street, had a somewhat narrow escape, as they remained in the burning building long after the roof and walls .were on fire. The people below repeatedly shouted <to them and warned them of their danger, but most likely the howling of the wind prevented them hearing,-and so they remained till'forcod to quit by the blinding smoke and flame. They left the building not a moment too soon, for it fell directly afterwards. We are not aware whether Mr Knight was insured, ,but if not lie must be a heavy loser, as wo think but little of his stock was saved. 1'

It was about the time that the flames were blown across the street and seis&d upon the house of Mr Weaver, clra-i per,;. ; at tipip -continuing devastating course on the' one side :of the street it originally started fro n by extending to Mr Seymour’s; Mr Weaver’s shop, and the one adjoining, then empty, were speedily destroyed, - and the fire then caught the premises of the Timaru butcher ing company, and. from thence extended to the new offices of Mr Perry, which were likewise utterly consumed. From that block of buildings, from Mr Weaver’s to Mr Perry’s office, we are not aware what property was saved, neither do we know the value of insurances effected on each bui'ding. Mr ferry was fortunate enough to save all his deeds, but some were slightly charred. The shops ol Messrs Todd, drapers, Mr Hutton, grocer, and the Ship Hotel, on the same -side ol the street, but higher up, being on the north side of Beswick-street, and fronting the - furniture warehouse, where the fire commenced, narrowly escaped destruction. •The whole of the shop fronts.were charred, and the glass broken by the intense heat,. Most of tlie goods were taken from these premises, but a great many, were destroyed by the hasty removal. All the'time the fire was devouring the building on the east sidb of the main road, ic had crossed tlie narrow space intervening between Mr Wood’s and Mr Seymour’s on the west side, and biitrfow minutes elapsed when Mr Seymour s house was in flames. A large portion of Mr Seymour’s stock intrade was carried off the premises, and liis loss is, we understand, comparatively small As soon as Mr; Seymour’s house, had caught, it was seen that at all events the whole'of tliat block of . buildings Was doomed, and: in fact a very short time elapsed and tbe fire was raging with great fury from .Seymour^, : at the, one end, to firskine’s, the grocer, at. the other; In this block . were included the premises of Mr Salomon, draper; -Mr French, seedsman ; Mr Youughusbaud, bookseller;; »iid. Mr Jacobs, watchmaker. Every building fell one after the other like a packbfcards.: We do not know the value of property saved,from this blobk, but we believe it to be comparatively ismall, to uninsured ; Messrs; Saibmbil^Fi*enicb y arid Xopngliusband are insured. ' Mr Salomon, though, is a Tjsry heavy losbr, as only very lately he reoeived..a largequantity {of‘new goods, whioh were nearly all {destroyed. Wb-are not aware whether Messrs Jacobs andErskinewereinsuredornot. !§•;<. ; v /; {. n -.lt {was thought that here thefire would have.stayed, as a gap of about 70 yards intervened between Mr Krskm but the; wind : blbwing hard down tbeistreet car Vied with it fragments of the burning debris, and the li^hte^particle^w^i^MrWatkins’shbp then w4B:;ragii»g., the shop (ori>

firp,’ thd fine building of tlurkson and Turnbull, at the opposite corner; had been ignited by the flying fine. Then. it was known that'no power on earth} could save that entire .block: The occupants df the shops and'offices .at once coinmenccdto bundle tlieeontents of their buildings into |he street, and ,to endeavor to- save the most valuable, things. But ill less time almost than it takes U 3 to tell'the story, the entire 'block .-.Was one sheet of flinies. Ihe Post and Telegraph offices were in flames before much co.uld be saved, and the batteries of the. Telegraph Department were all lost, thus cutting off all communication until others can be received from Christchurch.

Adjoining the Post Office was the boot and shoe, department of Messrs Clarkson and Turnbull, containing a very heavy stock, and the flames leapt inio his shop in u second of time. They then spread to the other parts of llie building with equal rapidity until the whole of the corner premises were enveloped, and it was impossible longer to carry out things with safety. From all their departments in the corner shop, a two-storey building, and by far the finest in Timaru, we believe that only a little more than a thousand pounds worth of stock was saved. Some of the drapery was turned into the street, but the smoke from the block of buildings to the north, and tho intense heat of the flames, were such a 9 to drive back the most daring. The loss of Messrs Clarkson and Turnbull must be most serious, as they had an enormous stock, and were only partially insured.

The Bank, of NcwrZealand was at this time blazing on' the roof, and Mrs Cliis holm and her family had little tim'o to es cape, but some of the private property was 9aved by daring volunteers. The attention of voluuteers was also directed to saving! he books and documents of value in the bank, and we are glad to learn that nothing: of value in that respect was lost. The fire was making rapid headway towards the top of the hill, to the south of the town. The roofs of the buildings appeared to take fire simultaneously, as they were all made of shingle, and rendered like matchwood by the dry north-west wind. There was a small roadway between the store of Clarkso'n and Turnbull and the next building, Mr Beldy’s shop, but this was covered over by au upper spin containing one store room. Mr Beldy’s house was of course next devoured, and as far as we know he saved nothing, and was uninsured.

Adjoining 3tfr Beld/s shop,: on the soti'h side, was the chemist and druggist shop of Ur Butler, who Resided on* the premises. A few of the most valuable and dangerous chemicals were taken out of the shop, but everything else was lost, including bedding and clothing, and Mrs Buller and family only escaped with their lives. Next to Dr Butler's was the ironmongery store of Clarkson and Turnbull, from which goods were being pitched into thestreet, but this lasted only for a moment, as the flimes drove men back, and most of the goods thrown out of tile shop were burnt on the middle of the road, or on the opposite side of the street. W 0 believe the stock was only insured to the extent of some £3OO or £4OO.

Then came .the l'imaru Herald office, a comparatively new building, one portion off which was let off to Mr D. Salomon. A. number of persona were hero engaged carrjing.put eases of type to an open spaceat the back, and in taking' down presses, &e. Others were employed in throwing out paper from the windows of an upper room. Before much was done-in this way I the j'men had the fire falling upon them through the-roof, and were conpelled to desist. The principal portion of the newspaper type was the whole of the jobbing type, fi-ainesifand other.'materials were destroyed. The- paper thrown into the street was burnt before it could be carried away, and hot a sheet of-any description was saved, beyond a small quantity which had been partly printed in anticipation of Wednesday’s (to-d-iy’s) issue. The presses .went through ,tho. fire, but as we write" we arc ; hopeful that one may *be patched up so as to enable us to strike off a few impressions on Wednesday. -The raen .worked brtvely to rescuo everything possible, but some, of the materials takoi; into the. back part’of tlie office were melted into a mass j and when- we tell our readers that brass galleys were ruin into a luuip : with the glass, front the windows, they will realise i something of-the intense heat. Here a dog, belonging to Mr BelHeld, was burnt .to deatli,vas.it refused to leave, the office as; long as i:its owner remained, and' not seeing ; its owner leave,’ in the end was buried in the flames. Both Mr Horton , and-; . Mr Belfieldr, lost . their, coats, the latter with a watch in it, and the men in the office : : barely escaped from the butldiug in time;. The building and the' printing material were both-vpartialiv insured. , ’ ’•

: The shop of Mr D. Salomon, belonging to . Messrs. Horton fan'cl';BeljSehl, was of oourse in flames 'as soon , as : tho' Herald office, „aridMr Salomon rescued little of iiis>.stook, which,: webeli e ve*was uniii ; sured.; , - 1 '-p?'- :r~

Sextjno Messrs sppoa : of -an^4Vi*pViojpafbqfe ; fi.iro',’ long s< before-C any 7 ot'hec&in the eame block, indeedbeforethe Bank of Newi- Zenland. Fire .was ' blown ou: tq-,tlie

the, fi e >tayo,l for the moment.: This enabled Mr Bilton to get out his most, valuable, things.iiicludingpianos.bedding. audio which lie wasnssisfed by willing volunteers. The goods were placed bi) the opposite side of the street, but here tipsy caught fire, and had to be further re* moved to the beach. Mr Bilton. was insured on, his stock, and we believe will not be a very -heavy loser.

Tlio fire then rushed into the private residence of Mr Byrne (who is now absent from home) and swept it down to the ground in a very short time, but whether Mrs Byrne succeeded in saving anything *« hay® not learned. We greatly fear, however, that little or nothing was saved. We must liere break our narrative to notice the opposite side of the street, for long before the fire had reached the point to we have carried our readers, it *h® an d carried down tlu* from which scarcely anything at all wtfs rescued. Bears were entertained that it would also lay hold of the stores and offices of Messrs. Gv G. Bussell and Co., but;,.that part of their premises most exposed "was roofed with slate, and wet blankets were kept on the face of the building, aiid men were posted at various places ta< pat out the fire driven thither by llie wind, which fortunately saved the buildirgs. Captain Scott, who resides on the eastern or sea side of the Club Hotel, cleared ont his furniture, but fortunately the house occupied by hup. escaped, as did also, we may say in a miraculous manner, tlie stabies on'the hill, immediately in rear of the Club Hotel, belonging to Messrs. Barton and Gardiner. ' ‘

"'We took our rdbders up to the point when the fire had destroyed the residence of Mr .Byrne, but it did not rest there for a second. The butchers shop, the next building travelling southwards, occupied! by the Executors of thela+e J. Kincr, about thirty or forty feet from Mo Byrne’s house, although a plaster building, ‘was gutted almost instantly. Then, the flumes carried down the ad* joining building, a bakery and pastry-cook’s shop, occupied by Mogan & M‘Caa, where little was saved, and where there was no insurance. '

Another building still fol’owed, the shop and 'house; occupied by Mr Hitch, tinwho lost almost everything. But here the lire scayetl. On the opposite side of the street s similar scene: of awful destruction was being enacted. Tlio house and shop. oc-from-its character, fell a ready prey to flying fire, and soon showed only a chimney standing.

jNext to this building was a roadway leading to Melton’s stables, anti on the other side a fine new brick building'belonging to Mr Turnbull, which waa divided into two shops, one occupied by Frazer Brothers, butchers, and the other by Mr Pogonow-ki, hairdresser. This building was generally believed to bo safe, but the fire devoured tho woodwork in an instant of time, and soon the walls fell in. A small wooden building adjoining of course did not escape. The fire also at the same moment, took hold of Melton’s stables, where little beyond the horses^was saved. -

All the way along the same street, where the places were much more scattered, there was nothing to be s-'en but people hurriedly clearing their homes in anticipation of the' scourge reaching them. But beyond the points we hare named on either-side of the inaiu street, it did not spread, aud about six o’clock the worst was over.

Ai far as we can-ascertain the following list will show the amount of liability incurred by diifereutiusuraacocompanies— Viotoria. ... ... ... ... £2,200 New Zealand ... ... 8,000 r Imperial ... 4,01)J London, Liverpool, and 0-lob9 8,000 Loudon and Lancashire ... 3,500 North British... ... ... ... 2,500 Royal ... ... ..., 2,000

Total ... :...:

•Surli istlie account, perhaps somewhat imperfect, of the greatest disaster that lias ever visited oar town—aiid &uclx airiglitful contingency, as.the scourge of fire visiting l'injaru we have’more than once pointed out, and advised remedial measures to be (adopted, such as providing an ample water supply. Out* suggestions have unfortunately, however, always : passed unheeded, i'lierd is no doubt that if the town had oossessed an engine of sufficient power to throw water, say to the top of the Bank of •New Zealand, and if a supply of water had been at iiuud, we should not have tO de ploro the loss of that: building, or the block of buildings. commencing at Ciarksoh-aud i’urnb ull’s, for .if-it had : been possible to have kept the. roofs- and wulls of those buildings saiurated with* water,v.thefe; was some aliauce of their being saved. ■ - 'K,%' : A great quantity of propertywas left in. the and .the vomuteerawere called out. anfi:,keot'wtttch:und.ward’:.oyer-it fiuc* ing: bt 'specittl sworn : in for-; the; aud'jigaye^ to .'it Is e?; r. t oNy t bu r nir* giving out 'volumes of black fetid smoke. were so hot lliyt it was dangerous, to. Walk them. wai ulso ipprehended Mi-% a >few weird dpwu to preteat aoflidettto, . .

A public meetitif waa held on Monday evening. eonrened to, devise measures forproviding food and lodging for the sufferers' by the. fire. Anumber of special constables were aleo sworn & to protect property during the night. %. . ‘ ' .On Tuesday, an-enquiry into the.origin of the fire took place and, after the evidence of Mr Munroand his workman had been heard, the jury arrived at the verdict that the lire was accidental; but as a rider they expressed their opinion that greater care might have been exercised on tne part of Mr Munro with regard to the stove in his workshop where the fire originated. 6

We understand that all the valuables wore saved belonging to the Bank of JSTcw Zealand, and that arrangements have been mado bj which the business of the Bank will be carried on at Mr lieCren’s store, ft may also be stated that the whole of the letters were saved at the Postoffice.