THE CHRISTCHURCH FIRES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 48, 15 February 1908, Page 2

THE CHRISTCHURCH FIRES.

INCENDIARIES' WORK., Ul! WHAT? Per Press Association. Christcuurch, Last Night In the ease of tlie incipient lire at the Press ollice last night, traces oi keroacne were found, and at the back of tu« hotel a man was seen ruinnia»iu<;' amongst rubbish before the lire broke, out. The police detained a half-caste negro on suspicion, but are inclined to suspect that the lires arc ignorant jokes rather than attempts to raise disastrous lires.

Meanwhile the police have instruutird hotelkeepers and others to keep a watchful eye on their back premises, and to keep dear of accumulations of inllannnalile rubbish. Members of the fire brigade take a more serious view of tile matter than the police, and think the attempts arc those of determined incendiaries. The suspected man is understood to hail from Wellington, but has been in Canterbury for some time. Ho has not thrown any light on last night's occurrence himself. "It is no joke to the brigade,'' said .Superintendent Smith to a reporter this morning. "We have been kept on the jump ever since the big fire, and you have to remember thai Ave have only two permanent men. The rest are volunteers. I have two men working all the lime repairing hose, and last night the firemen got very little rest at all. The people who insist on keeping their rubbish exposed are as much to blame as anyone. All rubbish should be placed in galvanised iron tins with tops, and the use of inflammable wooden boxes for this purpose should not be allowed at all." Christchurch has suffered "from a succession of fires since the big disaster of last week, scarcely a night having passed without a fire of some description. This is probably a mere coincidence. The evidence available suggests that the incendiarists did not commence their nefarious work until last night, but the public has no very definite assurance on the point. Even the big fire itself, it is pointed out, was first discovered down a right-of-way. The outbreak at the Cafe de Paris last night, which occurred shortly before seven o'clock, was a double one, two fires being discovered in the back portion of the premises within ten minutes of one another. Only slight damage was done, and the fires were easily extinguished, but they might have started a serious blaze had they not been noticed at once. Mr. J. F. Grierson to-day visited the Mayor and suggested that'a meeting of citizens might very well be called to consider the advisa'blencss of forming a volunter fire police corps, as was once before established, when a corps of 200 men were sworn in to deal primarily with an outbreak of incendiarism. Mr. • Grierson pointed out that such a corps f would be invaluable in case of a large , fire, and that during a period of incen- ■ diavism the men might be used to :'d" • vantage in patrolling the eily. The i- '.Mayor has promised to consider the , matter. Tlic half-caste who has been , arrested ha* been identified as one of t three men who asked Mr. Andrews lor . a match shortly before the lire was dis- - covered at the back of the A.I. Hotel