THE FIRE IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Southland Times, Issue 1971, 3 December 1872, Page 3

THE FIRE IN CHRISTCHURCH.

(Abridged from the T.yttplfon Times of November 26.) After enjoying immunity from fire so long that it had become necessary to adopt a system of falpe alarms to prevent tbe fire brigade from losing its efficiency, the business portion of the city has again been subject to tbe baneful influence of the devouring* element Arrangements had been made by His Worship the Mayor to give one of the £a)se alarms yesterday evening, but the intended sham fight was unexpectedly converted into a startling reality, and the members of the brigade had one of the sharpest struggles with their old enemy that we have recorded for some years. The fire, on enquiry, was found to bo in the shop of Mr Dunkerley, bafcfer, High street. When first observed, the flames were rising from the floor towards the back of the shop, and, as everything in the building was of an inflammable nature, it will be readily understood that a few moments sufficed to envelope the whole of the interior in flames. The crowd, usual at such occurrences, rapidly congregated, and during the. assembly of the Fire Brigade, attention was turned towards saving stock from the adjoining shops. Mr Harris, Superintendent of the Fire Brigade, Inspector Pender, and Captain Mitchell, of the Fire Police, were amongst tbe earliest arrivals, and by their directions order was very quickly | established — indeed, we do not remember to have seen it more expeditiously effected on any previous occasion. A posse of constables was also on the ground early, to enforce order if required, but very little was asked of them, for tbe general public behaved in a most excellent manner. Mr Alport, Mr Bishop, I and other officers and members of the ' F re Police, mustered quite as rapidly as the regular police, and were very energetic in their efforts to save property from the premises threatened with danger. These were very successful, though necessarily a great deal of damage resulted from over-zealous working. The amount of damage done was not so great as generally predicted, yet it was far from Bmall. The shop occupied by Mr Dunfeerley was totally destroyed, ac also the one occupied by Mr M'Callum on tbe south side, whilst the shops occupied by Mr Bonnington on the south side, and those occupied by Mr Brouncker and Mr W. J. Fisher on the north side were gutted. These, it must be said, however, bad very small frontages — say an average of 13 feet, thus giving 26 feet totally destroyed and 49 feet gutted. In addition to these, some injury was done to the 6hop lately occupied by Mr Moss, and the one occupied by Mr Percy, bootmaker, at the corner of tbe triangle, as it were, together with Mr Holmes's shop, south of the fire, and Mr Raphael's premises in Hereford-street, were injured, but to no great extent. The stock and goods were of course removed from these gutted and injured premises, as also from Mr Middleweek's and Mr Gardiner's, in Hereford street, and from Mr Prebble's in High street, the whole of the salvage being carefully stacked and guarded on the opposite side of the street, or taken elsewhere. Mr Dunkerley's shop and Mr M'Callum's shop, destroyed, were the property of Mr Prebbles, and were insured in the Alliance oflice for £130, and in the South British for £200. Mr Dunkerley's stock, amounting to about £500, was almost entirely uninsured, and Mr M'Callum's stock, valued at about £2000, was only insured for £200 in the South British, whilst not more than £100 to £150 of stock was saved. Both Mr M'Callum and Mr Dunkerley were away from business at the time of the fire. Mr Bonnington's shop (gutted), the lease of which he recently purchased, was uninsured, and the Btock, valued at £2000, was only insured for £500 in the Pacific, but upwards of £1000 was said to be saved, though it is difficult to give the latter kind of estimate with any degree of certainty. The shops occupied by Messrs Brouncker and Fisher (gutted) belong to the Rev. T. fi. Fisher, and were insured in the Victoria for £550, whilst Messrs Percy and Moss's shop, (slightly injured) were insured in the New Zealand oifice for £500. Mr Bronncker's stock was uninsured, but with tbe exception of about £100 worth, it was, through the smartness of the shopmen, Mr Williams and Mr J. Savage, all saved. Mr Fisher's stock, valued at £1400, was insured in the Pacific for £200, and in the New Zealand for £400, whilst about £700 was saved. Messrs Percy, Prebble, Middleweek, Raphael, and Gardiner all suffered more or less from the removal of their stock, but the damage cannot of course be estimated. In most cases the building insurances would go a long way towards replacing the shops destroyed if the same kind of materials were used, and the same character of buildings erected, but bhe City Council by-laws render it compulsory that in this part of the city all buildings ( should.be of brick or stone, therefore the loss will be much greater than under ordinary circumstances. In round numbers the absolute destruction and damage to property may be computed at upwards Of £7000.