The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1887. THE DUNEDIN FIRE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1547, 1 February 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1887. THE DUNEDIN FIRE.

The fire by which the Dunedin Woodware Company’s factory was destroyed last Sunday must be looked upon as one of the most serious events that has occurred in this colony for some time past. ,The property belonged to the Bank of New Zealand, and it loses about £IOO,OOO, besides the insurance, which amounted to about £50,000. It is a very regrettable circumstance that so much wealth should be completely reduced to ashes iu a few hours, no matter who owned it. It belonged to the Bank of New Zealand ; it can afford to lose it, but in losing, it no one is a gainer, which makes matters worse. Sympathy with the Bank in its loss is certainly not very widespread, but let it be remembered that anything that would cripple the Bank of New Zealand as things are at present, would cripple the whole colony and bring ruin to thousands. It does not behave as well as it might do, but it is no worse than other banks, and until something ia put in its place self-interest, if not a more generous feeling, must cause us to regret its losses. But the loss the Bank has sustained, though serious, is trifling when it is considered that four brave men—heroes, whose display ofcourage places them in the first rank of brave men—lost their lives. All the four did not come by their death in the endeavor to save goods from the fire. Three of them were killel in the endeavor to save the life of the fourth. He was caught in the burning debris , and they went with others to his rescue, and the fact that they were killed shows how dangerous the undertaking was. Foremost amongst those who thus entered (he “jaws of death” but escaped was Dr Maclntyre, who showed as much physical courage in this in : stance as be did moral courage on another memorable occasion. According to the Otago Daily Times, he was with Doctors Brown and Fergasson working for five hours at the imminent risk of his own life trying to rescue the men from beneath debris , and how he was “not killed was due to the resistance of some hardware to the falling beams.” There ia another very regrettable feature of the catastrophe. About 150 of the employees will bo permanently thrown out of word, and in the present stale of the colony this is very serious also. It appears to us that this fire is remarkable in other respects. It took place in the middle of a summer’s day, and it is peculiar that with all ihe appliances whiclj • civilization has placed at our disposal now-a-days its progress was not arrested before the whole building was destroyed. It is, however, no more remajrkajble than the fact that the goods shed at.the Dunedin railway station was burned down a short time age in a similar manner. Looking at all the circumstances we cannot help noticing a Strong family likeness between the two fires. Both fires took place on Sunday afternoon ; both appear to have spread with extraordinary rapidity ; both broke out mysteriously, and both have demolished buildings belonging to .owners capable of rebui'ding them. The likeness is so striking that we feel constrained to believe that one and the same agency caused both fires. We fully rec 'gnise the gravity of the responsibility involved in asserting that both fires have been caused by a or persons desirous of making employment for persons out of work, but we are convinced that we ate correct in doing so. In both cases more than ordinary precautions appear to have been taken, yet the fires occurred on a Sunday afternoon when not even a negligent employee was present to throw down a lighted match, or to assist in extinguishing the flames. The circums auC' S were not even favorable to the hypothesis that the fire in (ho Wood

ware Company’s factory was caused by that terrible incendiary the match* mating rat ; where there is nothing but iron and wood is not the place “be.” would domicile “ himself.” -Taking all things into consideration we are reluctantly compelled to believe that these two fires were the outcome of the unemp!oyed question, and if we are correct in this, it must be admitted that it is a Tory serious matter.