DESTRUCTION OF NEW ZEALAND TIMBER CO.'S MILL. £10,000 Worth of Property Consumed.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 85, 17 January 1885, Page 3

DESTRUCTION OF NEW ZEALAND TIMBER CO.'S MILL. £10,000 Worth of Property Consumed.

The fiercest fire and grandest pyrotechnic display that have occurred in Auckland since the days when whole streets formed a single holocaust for the devouring flames, took place on Saturday night, January 10. At a quarter to ten o'clock the first notes of alarm were rung out upon the factory bell in the Auckland Timber Co. 's establishment, Customs-street West, and were promptly taken up in turn by the firebells of the city and Parnell. The fire increased with such rapidity that the entire extent of Iho mill, both front and rear, from basement to roof, was in its fiery embrace before the arrival of the Fire Brigade under Superintendent Hughes, and the Salvage Corps under Captain Field, although both bodies mustered and hastened to the scene with the greatest possible expedition. Meantime, the fire had aleo been observed from the American man-of-war Iroquois, and Captain Stirling immediately despatched Ensign Gilmour in the whaleboat to tender for shore duty the services of the vessel's own brigade. Superintendent Hughes of course accepted with gratitude the timely offer, and Ensign Gilmour communicated the fact to those on board by sending up a rocket. The cuttur was at once got out, and the brigade, consisting of a score or so of men under Lieutenant Halsey, lowed off swiftly for the shore. When Superintendent Hughes arrived upon the ground it needed but a glance to assure himself that the eventuality of greatest danger was that of the extension of the flames towards the extensive premises of the Auckland Timber Company, adjoining those of the New Zealand Timber Company on its western side Be therefore took up his own position on that side, assisted by Branchmen Heaps, Moore, and Findlay, who, with their mcr, scaled the burning stacks of timber and resolutely held possession as long as they could, con f esting every inch of space as they wore slowly driven backward. Here likewise the employe's of the Auckland Timber Co , under Messrs Geo. Hold&hip (manager), W. C. Daldy, junr. (secretary), Foreman Priestley, Peter Smith (engineer), and others gavo very valuable assistance. On the eastern side senior Fireman Harley and junior Fiicman Clarke, with their con tingent of men, carried on the warfare against the consuming element, ably assisted by Messrs Frank Jaggar, W. Parker, Herbert and Edwin (Jaw, the employe's of the N.Z. Timber Co., and some of the sailors, the chief oojeet being to save as many stacks of timber on that side as was possible, and to assure the safety of the office as well as of the three - masted schooner Frank Guy, which was lying alongside the wharf behind the office laden with coke for Napier. A cutter which Mr D. Gouk had upon his slip was also threatened. On the southern fside the principal point of danger was the Gas Company's promises, hich were guarded by a large number of their employes. Some time after tho lire broke out, a gentle wind sprang up from the westward, and gradually freshening, kept the flames in an easterly direction. The difficulty, therefore, was to prevent its further encroachment ou this side, as the safety of the office and the buildings further on, including Mr Gouk's ship-yard and the wharf, with the Frank Guy at anchor in low water, was bound up together. Leads of hose of all sizes from the tiniest squirt to the inch .and a quarter " controlling nozzle" were kept in constant service, and buckets were also in requisition. One stack of timber near the water, and nearest the wharf, was a particular object of attention. For a long time a number of boys with buckets kept the flames there at bay, but at length a portion of the Brigade, with their better equipments, hid to turn their attention to it. Along the whole eastern side the battle raged fiercely from 11 till 12.30. By midnight hopes were beginning to be entertained that the eastward progress of the fire would be stayed The chief point of interest about this time was the western .side ©f tho conflagration. Between the blazing mass that an hour or two ago had been the fine mill of the New Zealand Timber Company, and the Auckland Timber Company's mill, was a succession of stacks of timber belonging to the last named company. Several of theso were forty or fifty feet high, and composed principally of timber suitable for weather boarding, flooring, &c. Despite tho strennous efforts made, the flames extended to theso stacks, the fire raging most fiercely at a stack close to tho roadway, and al a stack near the water's edge. A great heap of bundled shingles on tho wharf also caught fire, but tho dam >ge at tho last-named point was minimised by the throwing of a number of the bundles overboard. On the roof of the Auckland Timber Co 's mill about a score of willing helpers had congregated. These, by means of hoses and buckets, saturated tho building. Several of these workers had narrow escapes from falling through the glass sky-lights, one or two of which were broken by the unwary treading on them. At 230 the workers succeeded in arresting the progress of the flames in the centre of the last- line of stacks. At 3 o'clock the men of the Iroquois, having been " refreshed" by Superintendent Hughes at Gleeson's hotel, were marched off to their vessel, amidst cheers from the assembled crowds. All through the night and Sunday forenoon the Fireßrrgado kept the water going on the debris. About ten o'clock in the morning they were relieved by the employee's of the mill and returned to the station, after having been on duty for fourteen hours. The cause of the outbreak 13 enshrouded in mystery. A number of tho employe's of the N. Z Timber Co. lost their tools in the fire, and many of the sufferers in this respect had previously lost tool by the fire at the Union Sash and Door Co. 'a mill. Several of the members of the Fire Brigade met with trifling accidents. Branchman F, Findlay had his thigh hurt, and junior Fireman Clarke is suffering from a ricked ancle. Mr W. G. Connolly sustained an injury to his foct. An employe" of the Auckland Timber Company, named A. Neil, fell into the sea, but was fished out | none the worse for his wetting, though he lost a watch and chain from his waistcoat pocket. W. Parker, another employd, sustained a bruise on the head through a plank from one of the stacks falling on him. Most of the Fire Brigade men are suffering from severe colds in consequence of the wetting and exposure. The New Zealand Timber Company's loss is calculated at between £8,000 and £9,000, of which £3,000 is covered by a policy in the Norwich Union Office. That Company has, however, reinsured £2,500 of the risk, so that its loss is but £500.

The Government Insurance Association have bought the property in Dunedin known as Wise's Corner, which is a quarteracre Bection (with buildings) in the heart of the city, for the sum of £35,500. This is equal to £538 per foot frontage to Princesstreet,