DISASTROUS FIRE AT SWITZERS.

Southland Times, Issue 1074, 16 December 1868, Page 2

DISASTROUS FIRE AT SWITZERS.

(feom a cohhespohdent.) On Sunday morning, the 6th December last, at about 2 o'clock, the alarm of fire was raised on Carnies Hill, Switzer's, and in a few minutes all the residents of the place were astir* The scene of the i conflagration was Hunter's Crown Hotel, a large and very commodious building only lately completed and fitted up. It was furnished and stocked in a superior manner, and was, par excellence, — the i hotel of the district. Some few minutes : — icertainly not ten — from the first dis- . covery of the fire, the whole building was i in flames ; great anxiety prevailed, and '. tremendous exertions were made to i rescue the inmates from their perilous 1 position. They were, however, quickly 1 aroused by a lad (in the employ of Mr 7 Hunter), who seems to have been the < first to have discovered the fire. Several, 1 in fact nearly all, had to abandon every- 1 thing, and rushed out of the burning < house in their night dresses — there was < no time to save anything. Adjoining Mr ( Hunter's stood a watchmakers shop, i belonging to Mr Lumsden, of luver- ( cargill. Next, beyond the watchmaker's, i were the extensive stores of Messrs s Skene, Hast and Co., whose names have for six years past been identified with t the mining and commercial history of c Switzers. These stores, as well as the I hotel, projected in the rear much further i back than Mr Lumsden's premises, hence < it happened that the very high wind pre- a vailing, caused the fire to attack the back 1 portion of Skene, Hast and Co.'s v premises, beforo Mr Lumsden's shop was t ignited. JSTot more than ten minutes t elapsed from the first alarm of fire, ( before the stores were in a blaze, and v the astounding rapidity with which the v flames spread, caused the greatest conster- t nation. The store was unusually full of a goods, a very large quantity of merchan- v dize having been received lately, probably v in anticipation of increased briskness of a trade at Christmas-time. Only two n days before, four yankee waggons had t delivered about £GOO worth of stuff. The h stock consisted of every variety of goods c consumable on a goldfield. Drapery, we D believe, forming the most costly and a prominent item. It is much to be s; regretted that it was impossible to save n but a mere trifle of this valuable sfe^ck. h

Tbe Post Office "WhieK^T^ „_ store (Mr Skene being pdßtmli^pm^| utterly destroyed with all bc^lw, dbcu-;? ments, letters, newspapers, stomps ||i. Mr Skene was fortunate enough to seem the account books of the firm, and otfer documents, which were in an iron safe, also a few rolls of drapery goods/ v^Fhe fire as stated above spread with sucH marvellous rapidity; that biit a fe& miniites eiapsed before it waa utterly hopeless to save anything more, and the united efforts of the miners assembled were devoted to preventing- the -spread of the fire to other buildings. Along line of men bad been formed from Carnies race to the scene of devastation, • some hundred and fifty yards, and backets were passed from hand to hand with admirable rapidity and iegols^ity. *l}ut little efforts waii made to extinguish ,ihe fire as it would have been utterly futile to attempt such a thing, but a determined stand was made to arrest its progress at Mr Braithwaite's store. Mr Lumsden's place was now burned utterly down^ he, however, managed to save almost his entire stock, as it was already packed up " in readiness for removal, owing to his relinquishing business in the district; A narrow passage intervened . between* Mr Braithwaite's stationer's shop and the stores of Messrs Skene, Hast and Co. TEe books and stationary had by this time air been removed, and" there appeared little hope of saving the premises.^. The fire had penetrated the iron roofs and ignited the ceiling of the shop^-iiiPlbme places, this was, however, extinguished, and for a time the flames were held in check. It was fortunate .that the portion 1 of the building next Mr Braithwaite's had been used by Skene Hast and Co, as ft heavy goods store, being filled with floor, sugar, oats, &c, which offered some slight resistance to the spread of the flames. The other stores in the immediate neighbourhood, M'Beath and Co*s drapery, Mr Ferguson's hotel, Mr Bailey's druggist shop, were quickly emptied of their contents. At about halfpast 2 o'clock the wind, which, had, been blowing fiercely, considerably abated} and to this circumstance is mainly owing the ultimate success which, attertded .the efforts to save Mr Braithwaite's /premises^ and those beyond. For two hours water was continually handed up and thrown on without much visible effect^Jbut at length it seemed that the danger of the further spieading of the flames "was much reduced, and by about six o'clock, those who had been engaged in combating the fire were enabled to rest from;, their exertions. Although the danger to «ther buildings might by this time be-said to have ceased, the fire continued throughout Sunday and Monday to consume the heavy stock of goods and merchandise, and even on Thursday night flames -were still issuing from the heap of ruins. The losses of Messrs Skene, Hast A Co. are estimated at between five and six thousand pounds, of which £1500 is secured by insurance; namely, £100u in the Otago Insnrance Company, and £500 in the London and Liverpool. The insurance was updn" the stored Mid buildings. The hotel, where the fire commenced, is the property of the, same firm, and is totally unirisured. The fire commenced in the kitchen of the hotel, and an inquest, as to its cause and origin, was held on Monday by the coroner, John Nugent Wood, Esq., when a verdict was returned to the effect that the origin of the fire was unknown, and that no blame attached to the proprietors on account of any carelessness or want of proper cautions. . * E . A rider was added, praising in high terms the presence of mind and devotion of the lad John Pryce, who first discovered the fire, and who was, under Providence, the means of saving several lives .from destruction. It seems that this lad slept in the kitchen with the Chinese cook, LooFoo, and was awakened by the great heat and light of the flames, which had already attacked the greater part of the room* He sprang out of bed, called to LooFoo, and shook him, then crawled oat of the room on his hands and knees, -he' next rushed to the sleeping apartiflents;"raising the alarm, and with difficulty awaking some of the inmates. As soon as he was sure the whole household was astuv he ran out into the town crying "Fire! Fire !" He ran without stopping nearly half a mile to the houses and stores on Frenchmen's Hill, raising the .... alarm and calling but for buckets, <&c., bj bhis means a crowd of willing hands was collected sooner than would fotherwise have been the case. Loo FciOj the Chinaman, was found shortly afterwards by one of the inmates frightfully burned, baying apparently -missed — his -way 3ut, owing to his not having had the idea of crawling on the floor as the boy had ione. His life is not in danger bat his 'ace is fearfully disfigured, and the sight >f one eye imperilled. Much sympathy s felt for him. A su^wription was inftantly raised for th^ipobrer sufferers vho had lost all they possessed, some of ;hem not baying had time to gather iuough clothes to dress themselves. STearly one hundred pounds were raised n about twenty-four hours, and on Monlay evening a meeting was held it Jenning's Hotel, with Mr F. 3ertrand in the chair, when a committee vas appointed to distribute a portion of he money to supply immediate necessiies. The list is to be kept open till after Christmas. Messrs Skene, Hast and Co., with, the laudable enterprising... spirit rhich has so distinguished their career in he district, re-opened on Wednesday rfternoon with a small stock of goods rhich arrived by yaakee waggon the cry day of the fire; The postoffico is Iso temporarily held on the same preaises, viz. : — a small building contiguous o tho site on which the hotel stood. We ear that Mr Huuter will be ableto re. ommeuce business in a temporary uilding in a few days. 1 The community re unanimous 7 in their' expressions of jrmpathy with Mr Skene -and hia.partera on account of the heavy loss they aye sustained.-

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