CHILI.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 607, 28 May 1851, Page 3

CHILI.

GREAT FIRE AT VALPARAISO. ■ By the Ecuadorian brig ( orreo del Pacifico, arrived on Sunday, consigned to E. D. Heatley & Co., we have Valparaiso dates to December 25, being later than those previously received.

The most important news is of a great fire in Valparaiso. It broke out on Sunday morning, Dec. 15, in a little cigar shop, in the Calle del Cabo, corner of the Calle del Cochrane, and was not extinguished until it had swept the street, on both sides, destroying some 37 houses, shops, &c., and about 200,000 dols. worth of property. The Calle del Cabo is a narrow street running along between the hills back of Valparaiso and the sea, and connecting the two divisions of the town, the harbour, El Puerto, and the Almendral, or the handsomest part of Valparaiso. It is occupied chiefly by small dealers, for cigar shops,—in one of which it broke out, —mechanics, &c», so that, though the loss fell heavily on these poor people, most of whom lose their all, it did not affect the main business of the city ; except in the instance of a single row of buildings burned, which were occupied as a Custom House store.

The fire was spreading along the Calle del Aduana (the street of the Custom House) when it was arrested by pulling down a row of small buildings. In consequence of the earliness of the hour and the rapidity with which the fire spread, the crews from the English, American, and French vessels in the harbour were unable to be on the ground with their engines in time to render any efficient service.

Since the fire, says the Mercurio del Vapor, of Dec. 25, an extensive fire organization has been formed by the citizens, as well as natives and foreigners. The railroad to Copiapo was advancing rapidly, and the Mercurio is confident that it would be opened throughout the whole length during the course of the present year. The Valparaiso papers are rejoicing in the prospects of a German emigration into the southern part of the Republic. Three companies of Germans had arrived at Valdivia one of them accompanied by commissioners who were to make a report to their countrymen at home on the advantages of the country, government, &c. There was, at Santiago, a violent shock of an earthquake, following the eruption of an extinct volcano. The cornice of a house fell upon a boy, and killed him.

The new Chili tariff, greatly modified, in accordance with the suggestions of the committee of merchants, and much more liberal than the old one, was to go into operation on the Ist of January, 1851. El Mercurio announces, in a postcript, the receipt, by the British Consul at Valparaiso, of a dispatch from the British Charge at Santiago, to the effect that from aud after Jan. 1, 1851, British ships and merchandise would be exempt from the payment of the discriminating duties, imposed by the act of November 12, 1850.