FIRE AT DUNEDIN.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1046, 13 June 1883, Page 3

FIRE AT DUNEDIN.

.1 -.•J DiESTRUCTION OF A GOODS SHED. (per press association.)

;, : DUNEDIN, June 12. A fire broke out m a new railway goods shed at about half-past 8 o’clock this evening. It was completely destroyed in less than an hour. It was full of goods, a considerable portion of the cargo of the Westmeath, and the whole of the goods per Tarawera, which, came in this morning, having been stored in it. No details are at (present known. It is a question whether, as the goods being-stored from ship-board, insurance risks are at an end. The shed had only been taken over from the contractors.a week or ten clays ago. It was a building perhaps a couple of hundred feet in length. There was no water available |or a long time, as the shed was on the «ground, ’.Thousands of people were on the. scene of the fire/ : Later. The size of -the burned shed was 450 ft in length; and it had cost nearly £3OOO. Two night watchmen were on duty, one of whom was apparently told off to watch this and another important shed. He had gone round •it at a quarter past eight o’clock, trying all the doors, and nothing appeared to be wrong, but within less than half an hour the fire-bell rang. All the goods per Tarawera, a.quantity by the Wakatipu, and a few packages by the Westmeath,- were, in it.. Eleven ; railway trucks loaded, were in the- shed. Nothing at all was saved.' A large' number of ' leading importers are losers. A sixteen horse-power gas engine, intended to,drive the printing and electric light machinery in the Daily Times office, was burned. ! There' were : -fourteen' truck loads of goods from ! the Tarawera' put into-'the ’shed this evening. One importer of jewellery has goods' to the,.value of, £SOOO in it. ’ The shed 'has been in the .hands of the : railway department a month. Nothing is known yet as to the origin of the fire. It is believed the loss to the insurance companies will be extremely little, but that it will all-fall on the owners. Latest. The Daily Times machinery was found in the station uninjured. Several large firms are .covered by floating policies;