A GREAT FIRE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 444, 8 February 1890, Page 4

A GREAT FIRE.

At 5 p.m. on January Ist the royal palace at Laeken, a suburb of Brussels, was burned. Princess Clementine bad a narrow escape from being burned to death. Her governess perished. All the royal art collection was destroyed. The fire was prevented from reaching the King’s private rooms. At 10 p.m. the palace had the appearance of a huge furnace, and there came from it several crashes and volcanic bursts of flames and sparks as portions of timber, stone or other masses of debris fell into the fire. The heat was so great as to totally prevent the approach of the small fire brigade, which at best could have done but little. . The Queen’s apartments have suffered most. Much plate has been saved, but the valuable pictures, gobelin tapestries and the great library are all consumed. The King is anxious about the statuary in the rotunda. There is little hope that any of it is saved. The only occupants of the palace at the time of the breaking out of the fire were the Princess Clementine, aged 17, a lady, attendant, and her governess. The governess, having escaped with the others, returned to the Princess’apartments to secure some valuables, and was suffocated there. The loss is immense, as to money value ; and as to the destruction of art treasures, that cannot be replaced. The Palace of Laeken is located’about three miles north of Brussels near the west bank of the Seine. It was originally a chateau and was bought by the first Napoleon during the time of the imperial supremacy, when part of the Low Countries were absorbed by France. The great soldier converted it into a palace, for the Empress Josephine, and it was beneath its roof that he signed the declaration of war against Russia. The gardens, and park attached to the palace are among the finest In'Europe; ' ,7" .V At.;