GREAT FIRE IN WELLINGTON.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1575, 30 April 1887, Page 3

GREAT FIRE IN WELLINGTON.

Another painfully destructive fire occurred at Wellington on Thursday morning, the loss by which will fall, not on the Insurance Companies, but on the whole colony. At 4.46 a.m. the Post and Telegraph Office was found to be on fire, and by eight o’clock it was completely gutted, Ou this occasion there was a fnli supply of water, and nine branches were playing, bat the efforts of the brigade were inadequate to save the building. The offices were finished in April, 1884, and occupied a prominent site, covering the whole harbor face of the block between Panama and Grey streets. They were three storeys in height, and a olook tower surmounted the edifice. The building and fittings together cost £27,000, and now merely a shell is left. The upper walls will probably have to come down, but the lower ate intact, and by so much the loss will be decreased. Against this there is the value of the records, telegraph instruments, furniture, etc., destroyed, so that the total damage cannot well be Ims than £30,000. The telephone exchange Is swept away, but a large number of transmitters were saved. Everything was got out of the Post Office, which was the last portion the flames reached, and the men set to work at once sorting up in the street. Afterwards they were removed to a shed on the wharf, where for the present business will he carried on. The Customs, from which nothing was saved, is located in the Provincial Buildings. Their books and documents were mostly in the strong room, and the Telegraph Department was equally fortunate in having their records safely stowed away. There was one of these rooms for each department, but they cannot be opened for a day or two. The energetic telegraph officials immediately engaged the unoccupied portion of the National Mutual Life Association's buildings, and by two o’clock, oonneotion was ssenred with the Cable and Southern Offices. Five-sixths of the great building, 200 feet in length, was burned to the bare bricks, and this, despite the fact that the brigade had been playing on it incessantly for nearly three hours with (ihe full form pf the water, Being ot brick and plastered throughout, it might have been thought that a portion at least could have been saved. It is fair to state that it was difficult to get at the seat of the fire, that the shape of the building favored a sudden spread from the point where it started, and the main staircase, by which alpne the sro could hayo been fought out in the Post and Telegraph Departments, was early seized by the flame, and rendered untenable. If is estimated by a builder that, allowing for the lower walls being intact, it would take £20,000 to replace the building. The following departments were located in the burned pile {—Post, Customs, Telegraphs, BegiytW of Friendly Societies, Weather Office, Inspector of Machinery, Telephone Exchange, and Laboratory. Besides thsse the top flat waa occupied entirely by the Postmas'er-General’s Department and Accountant’s staff. The loss in the Friendly Societies' Begistration Office will he serious, las all the Becorji* on which the valuations ary based are destroyed. The origin of the fire Is unknown, but Mrs J)»Ti*, ope q( the gufry, is pertain it originated in the mail-

bag sorting - Urn whence it communicated with i. She gave the Marm,« d the telnpho ; ! rV, who was ti e <r, official on the pr m sei (the teiegiaph opera ton havi.!» left) running into the press room on i he middle flat, found flunes springi' gup through t e lift. He tried to find the hose but did not succeed, and then rang up the brigade. The latter were none too quick getting to work, and the fire obtained a commanding hold. The uewly-oriioted eleotrio light machinery, costing .£SOO or £6OO, was completely destroyed. The clock in the tower cost £9OO. The department have leased new premises for two years at £6OO a year, and hare ordered new material from Australia.

A telegram to hand yesterday states:— "It turns out there ware no buckets or hose to be found in the Post Office on Thursday when the fire was first discovered. Both the telephone clerk and policeman hunted in rain. Had there been a few backets policeman Zeddell is confident he could hare materially checked the spread of the flames up the lift. It was this lift apparently which spread the flames through the top storey in so rapid a manner. A cardinal mistake that the firemen made was iu not going to the top of the building, round the root of which substantial platforms ran. This is precisely the same error as was made at the last fire, but for which Johnstou’s bond would not hare suffered. During the fire, Hr Gray, Secretary to the Post and Telegraph Department tried in rain to obtain? a ladder to reach his room, at the far end in the top storey, but neither the Brigade nor anyone else seemed to bare one long enough, showing that the fire prevention plant is far from perfect. The loss in the telegraph office is estimated at £I6OO. A number of private persons lose valuable books, etc., all uninsured.