Fire at Te Aro House.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 115, 21 April 1885, Page 2

Fire at Te Aro House.

FUBTHEB PARTICULARS.

Wellington paper. About the origin of the fire there is no mystery. It appears that Mr Smith's assistants have been m the habit of lighting the gas jets by means of ah "electric lisrhter," but this instrument having become defective, a spirit lamp or " port fire " was used for the purpose. On Saturday evening Mr Downey, one of the assistants, was lighting a^ j •jet m the window at the Southern end of the building, when a drop of the spirits fell upon some fancy goods, which immediately ignited. Being dry and of inflammable materials, the goods furnished fast fuel for the flames, and we are assured by an eye-witness that m an increditable space of time the whole window was a sheet of fire. The flame rapidly mounted to the ceiling, and, catching it, penetrated through to the other floor, Here a large quantity of cocoanut matting was stored, and this taking fire caused immense volumes of smoke to fill the buildinsv the wind tending to keep it side. Thus the employes of the establishment, who worked from the commencement with the greatest energy and coolness, were met by a difficulty against which they could not contend, and were literally driven out of the shop by the smoke. One of them Mr Taylor, ; made a courageous attempt which very nearly cost him his life. After leaving the premises the advisability of turning off the gas occurred to him, and he rushed into the building again. Immediately afterwards instructions were given by the police to close the and _Mr Taylor, having accomplished his object, turned to go out again, together with' two assistants who were likewise locked m, but found the doors closed and their means of egress cut off. Fortunately, their cries for assistance- were, heard, and Mr James Smith, who happened to arrive about the time, ordered that the doors should be opened. , This was quickly done, and Mr Taylor was discovered lying, on the. floor m an insensible state. He was at once conveyed outside, where he soon recovered from the effects of his partial suffocation.'ThV precautions taken against fire m Te Aro House was probably as great as have been observed m, any place of business m ? the Colony. Hose was kept .ready for any emergency m every part of the warehouse, and even the use of. wax matches was strictly prohibited. . Very recently extensive consignments of winter goods had been imported, and con. sequently the total stock m the premises at the time was an unusually large one, and was thought to be worth .£25,000 to .£30,000. The goods saved will probably reduce Mr Smith's actual loss to JSOOO or This will be further increased by the suspension of business which must necessarily take place. . But Mr Smith is a man of wonderful energy, and he will not be likely to allow much time to elapse before he re-opens m tenv pprary premises. To a great extent Te Aro House is part and parcel of the hisr, tory of Wellington, and it is admitted by competent judges, sttch as the majority of business men m Cuba-street, that it has helped to bring that street very prominently under public notice — m fact, it has tended to convert it from a quiet street, with private residences and a few shops here and there, into onp of the busiest thoroughfares m New Zealand. For over a quarter of a century Te Aro House has been one of the landmarks of Wellington and many can fremember it when they were schoolboys. "As long as I can remember anything," remarked an old Wellington boy who wag at. the fire, "1 can remember Te Aro House." Its substantial progress has been almost as remarkable as that of the persons who have conducted business" m it. It was managed at first by the Misses Taylor (sisters, we believe, of Mr W. Waring Taylor), who made a competency, and then went" Home to Erig- ' land. They were succeeded by' the Misses Smith, who were equally successful m their business — to such an extent as to be able, m turn, to retire upon a .competency. Mr James Smith then took the business over, and during the twelve or fifteen years that he has been m possession the trade of Te Aro House has grown to an enormous extent. The crowds of buyers and the large number of employes have otten surprised visitors from Auckland; Cnristchurch, and other pavts of the Colony. The burning of Te Aro House is regretted on all sides, and general sympathy is telt for its ow- . ner. For some time past Mr Smith has been thinking of building new premises, and it is stated that he had actually advanced to the stage of getting plans prepared, and that the arohiteot had performed his portion of the preliminary work. The difficulty to be got over was continuing the business whilst the building operations were going on, but that will now have to be surmounted. We may therefore confidently expect to see the new building commenced with, out much delay. The . new Te Aro House will, no doubt, present a wonderful contrast to the Te Aro House of the early days to which the Wellington boy referred.