THE RECENT FIRE NEAR CHRISTCHURCH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 111, 10 May 1879, Page 4

THE RECENT FIRE NEAR CHRISTCHURCH.

[Press Mar 7.] Shortly *>ftpr on<i ii* clock n.tn. on Tnperlav „ ff r^ hroke rut at 'be works "known t» thp Belfast Mont Preserving Fnctorr, by which tb*> rrajor part of ihfti e xfcr sivrt rp'fibl? .hm*_fc was \ .irn* to the .round. Thp 'r.fo. y wns g ;? un f r . ft flfcorf r.f.n» co from the Belfast .nilWAV ptmioo on Ihs Northern line, with which it. was .connoted by a siding roil whiob ran .i?ht into the works Th* fapfpry covPTPd a large arcs of rronni» t nn ,l r omprippd »1] the necesenry buili'inos for rnrrying on an PK»pnsi<"> W* olpsnle r.r>d ejfprtrt (rode. Thp p'nn t»f tbe building may be described as follow?: — The main building, sixty oop yards Inn. . mn from . act to west and was divided into fire compartment 9. the honing room, topping room, prpaprving room, tesline room and Ticking room. Tbe tinsmith's nnd boiler rooms were built off on the north *idfl of the main structure and alongside theboile r room towards the western *x»rowi»y wrr« situated the tallow and *">an Toime. These last were separated frovn the rest of the building by a long •covered p .ssage through which a tramway ran for the easier conveyance of the Abovp the passage was a loft 18ft long by Bft wide, and sft high at the eavps. The tallow room was phced nt the southern extremity of the long ranpe of departments, and at the time, of tbe fire contained fonr large vats full of meat. Thpir holdine capacity may be imagined when it is stated that they contained one thou«and sheep io wocpsb of cooking. The tramw»y ran from the boning room, right through the passage, and communicated with, the loft by means of moveable skid?. Up to tbe time of the firp, the works were in full operation, five thousand sheep, on the average, being killed weekly; in fact, since the proprietors commenced fo cut down sheep, six weeks ago, thirty thousand animals had been slaughtered. Forty thoueand tins of various descriptions of preserved , meat were stored on the premises, and in addition there were nearly thirty tone of tallow, five hundred carcases of sheep, aod twenty-nine tons of soap, besides a quantity of sawn timber for ; making cases of, chloride of sodium nsed for preserving, as well as a lerge supply of tin plates for conversion into cans, and no inconsiderable quantity of solder, lard, oil, &c. AH this pro perty was completely destroyed. From inquiries made on the premises it appears that the fire was discovered about ten minutes pest one o'clock. A man named Tuckey, who had the contract for washing and testing the tins, wns going to work with another man of the name of Ewing, whom he employed to assist him, when the. ttenfion of the latter was attracted by a gtore of light throueh tbe skylight, which covered a portion of the building party were going. Tuckey, it must be ; mentioned, had received permission to work on? this particular right in order to keep up with bis . work, which bad uoaviodably got into arrear, aod by the terms of his contract it was necessary for him to pull op his time. Along with Tuckey and Ewing ; were two other of the employes named Brown and Withers. 'Ewing was in 4he act of passing from the preserving into the testing room when he first saw the fire, and he at once ran oat and gave the alarm. Mr Robert Guthrie, .the manager of the works, with tie foreman, Mr Longman, were promptly on tbe Bpot, and under their direotion the factory hands were extended, some in ! a Hoe passing buckets hand over baud from , tbe adjacent creek to the bui-piog buil^iog,^ and others ,in endeavouring to save as .much of the stock as could be got. up. Unfortunately the inflammable nature of the stock, especially the tallow, fed the flames, and in half an hour the fire had obtained so firm a hold of the building that all hope of saving ;it from destruction, had to be abandoned. Hundreds of the tins of meat, under tbe fierce action of the fire burst and poured into, the lair like rookets, emitting showers of sparks, while the blazing vats of tallow, as they melted, afforded an apparently inexhaustible supply of conbustible material to feed the flames. In spite of tbe utmost exertions of the men tbe fire speedily enveloped the whole, of the main buildand by 3 a.m. tbe factory proper was level with tbe ground. On the first alarm a messenger was dispatched to town for Mr Watt the -proprietor, who on receipt of the disastrous intelligence at once rode out, only arriving in time to see the the last of the destruction. Fortunately where tbe engines and boilers were situated there was very little inflammable matter, and as tbe light roof which covered tbem was burnt before it fell io, they were comparatively uninjured. The fire did not spread to the wool shed and store which were detached from the main factory, apd contained wool to the value of £1050; 40 tons of potatoes, 500 cans of preserved meat, 30 tons;of ground bone dust, 600 bushels of beans, 300 bushels of oats, and £150 worth of other commodities. Up to a late hour yesterday immense piles of bones nnd tins of meat were biasing fiercely, sending up deose clouds of smoke, and occasionally as the tins exploded they flew in all directions. There are no means of ascertaining how the fire broke out, but when discovered the flames were apparently ac much outside as in the test room. Several of the insurance agents were ??;^ <.f .FP ÜB .» and started the not IW<SWW? hypothesis that the fire

mishtbova originated from the proximity of the steam piprs to a portion of the woodwork.