GREAT FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1806, 6 May 1874, Page 3

GREAT FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

[BY ELECIIUC TELEGRAPH.] Auckland, Tuesday. ' A destructive fire occurred about 1 o'clock this morning, burning a whole block of wooden buildings in Queenstreet, from fjhe foot of Wakefield-street to the Pacific Hotel. Ten thousand pounds worth of property has been destroyed. Fifteen families have been made homeless. It originatedin the upper storey of, Francis' crockery shop, or Giles', butcher. At that timo a smill supply of water would have put it out, but there was none available. Great exertions were used to stay the fire here, but it sooi obtained a hold of the buildings and extended rapidly towards. Wakefieldstreet and d)wn Queen-street, until stopped at Wakefield-street end by the intervention of the cross-street; in the other direction by the brick wall of the Pacific Hotel.

' Goods wererushed outindiscrira inately, owing to the rapid spread of the fire. The amount saved is comparatively short.

Mr Williams, hotelkeepor, Thames, received injuries to the spine while esertin? himself at the fire.

The following are the buildings destroyed and insurances, as far as yet known : —J". B. Francis, crockery store; J. Giles, butcher; 1). Evitt, gunsmith; McMasters, draper, insured in the N. Z..lnsurance Company, amount unknown; Dalton, bootmaker, uninsured; Easdown, baker; Aley, watchmaker, insured in the Norwich for £200, and in the Scottish Company for £100; Woodward, baker; French and Co., stock insured, in the South British for £200, lioyal for £200, Norwich Union for £150, and the building for £200; Eedfern, photographer, insured in the New Zealand for £100; Brookes, bootmaker, insured in the Norwichfor£2oo; Hopkins, chemist; Travill, watchmaker; Uaffey, greengrocer; cottage in Eutland-street, owned by C. J. Stone; bakehouse in Lor'ne-street, belonging to Easdown was pulled down.

Nine of'the buildings belonging to C. J. Stooo were insured in the New Zealand, but the amount has not been ascertained. Giles' house was owned by Costello, and Francis' and Kvitt's were owned by Woodward.

Wo qnoto the following from the Eerahl's report of the fire .•—•

The alarm was no sooner raised than hull' a dozen willing hands wore upon the verandah, and calling for water. Several minutes elapsed ere this was obtainable, however, and the lire was making a good hold. The appeals for water became piteous. " Only another bucket and it's out!" " For God's sake, water!" But none was obtainable, and for the want of half a dozen buckets £30,000 worth of property became a prey to tho flames, and fifteen business premises were ruined. A few buckets of wa.tor wore, after anothor fore mJAuM booa allowed tho fya

to get a hold, secured from the neighbours who had become aroused, and from the pump at the junction of Queen and Grey-streets, but the opportune moment had been lost, and the result is written in plain letters with a burning pen. The hopelessness of restricting the names to narrow limits was now made apparent. There was fortunately but a slight wind, or nothing eould have saved the whole block ranging far up Wake-field-street down to Cass's corner. The' dry state of the roofs and of the timber of which the various shops consisted was food for'the fire, which only a splendid supply of water could have done anything effectual with. By this time one engine was got to play on Giles' and H. Francis' roof, but the dribbling stream which shot out was most piteous, and only served as food for scornful remarks and bitter satire. Goods were all this while being' carried over the streets from the shops, whilst idiots stood upon the several verandahs and destroyed what articles they could drag out by pitching them in the street, endangering at the same time the limbs and lives of those who wero doing good service below. By one o'clock Giles's premises had been fairly seized by the fire; and McMaster's draper's shop, below H. Francis's, had also ignited. The windows of McMaster's were chopped in, and the goods were thus enabled to be speedily handed across the street by numerous willing hands. Between Francis's and McMaster's was D. Evitt's gunsmith's shop. The cry of powder was raised, and alarmed numbers, but it was soon found that the supply was very small, and it, with the guns, pistols, shot, and suadry other articles, were speedily run out, leaving only the household goods and minor valueless articles to be destroyed. To Easdown's shop there, was considerable difficulty in obtaining an entrance, and it was not until one man mounted the verandah and chopped in the window that any goods were removed therefrom. The way in. which they were thrown into the street rendered them only fit for the rubbish heap. This was a quarter past one, when evidently a small .quantity of powder assisted in levelling Evitt's front. A glance at the rear of the premises from Lorne-street showed that the tumbled down and patchwork houses would only add fuel to the fire. It was feared now that there would be no stoppage to the flames until reaching the City Hall, for although the, Pacific was a brick building, it was feared the roof, which was of aged shingle, could not be kept from ignition. Large numbers of blankets were handed out from Linabury's stock, and the glass skylights and all wooden frameworks were protected with wet blankets. Whilst the flames were demolishing Easdown's bakery establishment, and strenuous endeavours were being made to check them at the Pacific Hotel, French's grocery store, at the corner of Queen and Wakefield-streets had been reached on the upper side. Most of the goods were, however, removed, and only a puny stream issued from one solitary pipe, as if in satire of the miserable supply the city is provided with.