A PYROTECHNICAL DISPLAY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 65, 15 March 1872, Page 2

A PYROTECHNICAL DISPLAY.

—Mr.

Adams, a tobacconist and fancy dealer, Queen- street, Auckland, bad in his shop a considerable quantity of fireworks, some of which were the cause of great alarm to his neighbors recently. These had been placed io a box under the counter, when, unthinkingly, a son of Adams threw down an unextinguished lucifer match, and this fell on the touchpaper of one of the rockets. Perceiving the danger, the lad immediately dragged the box out of the shop on to the footpath. The box had scarcely been removed when there followed a pyrotechnicai display which at first caused as much alarm as it afterwards created amusement when the nature of the affair became known. Skyrockets shot along the footpath into the road ; crackers flew into the air and went off iv a feu de joie of bangs ; squibs fizzed for a few seconds and burst; jumping jacks blazed and popped ; Catherine wheels, revolving upon their centres and unable to do mischief of themselves, set fire to Roman candles, which sent forth myriads of sulphur and saltpetre stars; and never before in Auckland was witnessed such an impromptu and unpremeditated simultaneous discbarge of fireworks. Within a few minutes some three or four hundred persons had collected round tbe doors of Mr. Adams's shop, and tbe services of tbe police had to be called into requisition to maintain a thoroughfare. Had euch an ignition taken place inside the shop nothing could have saved a large portion of the stock from either partial or total destruction. Fortunately nothing worse occurred than a temporary alarm to the adjoining dwellers to Mr. Adam's premises.