CHRISTCHURCH FIRE EPIDEMIC.

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 53

CHRISTCHURCH FIRE EPIDEMIC.

CHRSTCHURCH, February 13. To-night outbreaks of fire were discovered in no fewer than six different places in ihe heart of the business part of vhe cty, and indications point to the fact that a band of ir.ceiidiansts is at work. All the outbieaks were s.nnlar m character, the contenrs of rubbish boxes in narrow alle\v\ays he.nj? set alight after the boxes had been placed •aufainst the walls of buildings. The outbreaks were found in a nuM-of-wav belnecn the Grain Agency building and the Cafe de Paris Hotel at a poinl whore seveul vooden s'^ops abut on a right-of-way j'jar Brice's corner, leading from Hereford < .red. along the back of a number of ro:i 1 s..ops fronting on Colombo street ; in •lother right-of-way running from Cashel * 'eet along the back of other shops fro lit - it; o.i Colombo street j in a right-of-\va> at •s back of the Al Hotel, and of the ooden sifops in another part of Colombo roe* threatened by the big fire on Thursiv last : in tho right-of-way be'ow the nitcd Service Hotel, between Hereford .ect and Cathedral square, and in the '■es= office right-of-way. In some instances "losene. and fat had been added to phc .ie fi-es a good start. All the outbreaks veic promptly suppressed, and the police have the matter in hand. SUGGESTED FORMATION OF FIRE POLICE. CHRISTCHURCH, February 14. The city's experience last night leajes no room for doubt that incendiarists are at work in Christchurch. There were six small outbreaks of fire last night, in each case amongst rubbish in a yard or right-of-way. The premises threatened were Messrs Whitcombc and Tombs's building, the Christohurch Press office, the Cafe de Paris, Mr G. Andrews'* hutcher's shop, Mr Victor Harris's auction r»ms, and Messrs Lucas's iron foundry. All the outbreaks were small, and were suppressed without difficulty, but n one or two instances, at any rate, they •night have supplied the basis of a big •onflagration. The fact that six fires so < osely resembling one another in general i '.laracter should occur in one eveniaig is strong evidences of incendiarism, but the , fa«ts collected bf the police and fire brigade go • further still. In the case of the Press office fire traces of kerosene were found amongst the rubbish in which the outbreak occurred. A man was seen running away from Mr Victor Harris's premises just as the fire was first ' noticed. No one went in pursuit, the only observer — an employee of the United .Service Hotel — being more intent on giving ihe alarm. A man (was seen rummaging j pmongst the rubbish at the back of the Al ! Hot-el, and by Andre ws's shop just before ii.i outbreak of fire was discovered there. 11 0 also made off. It is stated that one of the men suspected in connection with the outrages — j a half-caste negro — was seen in the vicinity , immediately before four of the six fires. This morning the half-caste was detained by the police pending an investigation of all the circumstances, and a search is being made for the man or men with whom he has been associated. The suspected man is understood to hail from Wellington, but he has been in Canterbury for some time. He has not thrown any light on last night's occurrences. The police are disposed to regard the acts of incendiarism as stupid jokes rather than serious attempts to start big fires. The outbreaks, they point out, occurred in every case in rubbish boxe*, and were mot at all likely io constitute any ■very grave danger to the adjoining premises. A little effort sufficed to extinguish the ( flames. Last night, however, they warned j the proprietors of hotels in the city to , keep a watchful eye on such danger points as open yards and rights-of-way. The fire brigade men take a more serious view of the position. "Itis no joke to the j brigade," said superintendent Smith to a [ Star reporter this morning. "We have been kept on the jump ever since the big i fire, and you have to lemember that we have only two permament men, the rest being all volunteers. I have two men working all the time repairing hose, and last night the firemen got very little rest at all. j 'i"he people who insist on keeping their , rubbish exposed are as much' to blame as anyone. All rubbish should be placed in galvanised iron bins with tops, and the vise of inflammable wooden box.es for this purpose should not be allowed at all." j Chiistchurch has suffered from a succestirin of fires since the big disaster of last v. eek. scarcely a. night, .having; passed without afire of some description. This is probably mere coincidence, the evidence available suggesting that the incendiaries did not commence their nefarious work until last night. But the public has no very definite a-ssurance on the point. Even the big fire if£<elf, it is pointed out, was first discovered just inside a door down a right-of-v,aj. The outbreak at the Cafe de Paris ia«t night, which occurred shortly before 7 o'clock, was a double one, two fires being discovered in the beck portion of the premises within ten minutes of one another. Only slight damage was done, and <he fires were <easiJy extinguished; but they might have started a eerious blaze had they not been noticed at once. Mr J. F. Grierson to-day .visited the Mayor, and suggested that a meeting of citizens might very well be called to consider the advisableness of forming a volunteer fire police corps, as was done once before in Christchurch when a body of 200 men were sworn in to deal primarily with ( an outbreak of incendiarism. Mr Grierson i pointed out that such a corps would be invaluable in case of a large fire, and that ' during a period of incendiarism the men J might be used to advantage in patrolling the city. Tiie Mayor has promised to consider the matter. The half-caste who has been arrested has ' T>een identified as one of three men who asked Mr Andrews for a match shortly before the fire was discovered at the back of the A 1 Hotel. At to-night's meeting of the Christchurch Fire Board Superintendent Smith cited instances of pereone deliberately cutting the hose on the ocoasion of the big fire last week. Be mentioned also that several persons were to be summoned for deliberately driving over ill© hose at different , points.

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