THE CHRISTCHURCH FIRE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9068, 7 February 1908, Page 8

THE CHRISTCHURCH FIRE.

SECOND EDITION.

AN INFERNO. Frets Association. Christchurch, February 7. At midnight the block was like an inferno, the fiames rising ;high over the buildings and spreading from thefcentre. Hopes were {entertained for some time of saving the D. 1.0., but the fire leaped like a fiend and the place burned like tissue paper. Half- An hour sufficed for its ruin. These , fine premises were well appointed and heavily stocked, and employed quite an army of hands, but there are now only a few iron girders with shreds of woodwork left. The scene along Lichfield street to-day is desolate in the extreme. Warehouse after warehouse shows gloomy window holes with nothing behind. The White Hart Hotel in High street, one of the finest buildings in the city is a blackened ruin, nothing being left but its bare -walls, and the rest are-much the same. It is fortunate that the brigade stopped the fire at Beath’s, because"the next t building is wood, and the flames would have leaped the street and attacked the valuable block opposite, containing Ballantyne’s great drapery. The fire has taught a lesson on water supply. There are only a few tanks in the city and they proved useless. When they gave out the en gines had to go to the river, a long distance away and the delay proved fatal. A strong north-east wind blew carrying the flames roaring before it but it dropped and enabled the brigade to cope with them. All the fire appliances in the city and suburbs were called into action and so many old firemen turned up that the plant was never better manned. Crowds of people twenty to thirty thousand gathered and the tramway service was diverted for tear of live wires falling on them. THE INSURANCES. Dunedin, February 7. Following are the insurances in connection with the Christchurch fire, obtainable locally:—Ashby, Bergh and On., complete. North British £3500, Royal Exchange £3500, Victoria £2500; Queensland £2500, South British. Yorkshiie. Royal Commercial Union £2OOO each; Phoenix, National, Liverpool, London and Globe £IOOO each; total £25,000. Strange and Co. ’s linoleum warehouse, London and Lancshire £2500, Alliance £3OOO, Liverpool,|London and Globe, Norwich Union, Yorkshire £2OOO each, South British £IOOO, Sun £IOOO. The D. I. C, insurances total £81,500, hut particulars are not available.