THE CHRISTCHURCH FIRE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9050, 8 February 1908, Page 5

THE CHRISTCHURCH FIRE.

DAMAGE HALF A MILLION

INADEQUATE WATER SUPPLY. BY TBLEGRArU— MESS ASSOCIATION. CHRISTCHURCH, February 7. Additional particulars in connection with the fire which broke out in Strange and Co.'s establishment on Thursday evening show that the flames ran with marvellous rapidity from Strange's three-storey brick building to Malcolm and Co.'s warehouse in Lichfield street; thence to the back portion of P. Hayman and Co.'s, thence to D. Benjamin and Co.'s, and after ravaging these warehouses attacked the D.I. C. This establishment runs right through from Cashel-street to Lichfield street, and was soon a mass of flame which, travelling with bewildering rapidity, seized Ashby, Bergh and Co.'s ironmongery, gutting it in a short time. Things were now looking very serious. All the water tanks in the vicinity had given out and the engines had to bs taken to the Avon river. The delay was disastrous. The fire licked up Tribe's drapery shop, Hulbert and Slaymaker's tailoring establishment, Freeman's tea-roorrs, Williamson's drug store, Tucker's jewellery store, and, gathering in fierceness and force as it went, began to assault the White Hart Hotel, and but a comparatively few minutes* served to see that building ruin-d and gutted from floor to ceiling, Hallengtein's Clothing Factory followed, and the flames only stayed here by the collapse of Hallenstein!s, which allowed the brigade to get at the walls of Beath and Co.'s draperystore. This was saved, and its sanation meant also that of the Al Hotel at the corner of Cashel and Colombo streets. Meanwhile the fire was netting in its work with terrible \igour in the centre of the block whicn is pierced by rights-of-way leading to the wholesale warehouses alreadjr mentioned. The fire worked with lightning speed, tongues going out and licking up buildings in irregular order, but in the main confined to parts of the block indicated. Wardell's fine building facing High street at the corner escaped so far as the front portion was concerned, but the back was gutted. Maine's boot shop a'so went, and also the AngloSpecial bicycle shop. By half-past two the fire was conquered, but not before it had left a scene of desolation unmatched in.the city's history. The loss isvvarinusly stated at from a quarter to half-a-million. The insurances are said to be large. At least a thousand people will be out of work. At midnight the biock involved was like a huge inferno, the flames rising high over the buildings and spreading in strange, weird rays from the centre of the conflagration. Hopes were entertained for some time of saving the D.1.C., but were soon dispelled. The fire leaped like a fiend, and the internal portion was burned like tissue paper. Only a short half-hour sufficed to see the fine business establishment a mass of smouldering ruins. The scene to-day along Lichfield street is desolate in the extreme. Warehouse after warehouse show's gloomy window holes, through which the emptiness within is only too painfully seen. At the outset of the fire a strong-north-east wind blew, carrying the flames roaring before it, but it dropped after a time, and the lull enabled the brigade to cope with the fire. Every fire appliance in the city and suburbs was called into use, and ihe river, though so far away, saved the situation and prevented the destruction of the centre business blocks of the city. Experts say the total loss must approximate £500,000, and the figures regarding the insurance losses confirm this statement. £200,000 is already a loss tu local insurance companies, and the amount will be largely swelled by insurances held by Lloyds. Lloyds is estimated to hold £50,000, and the total insurance loss will doubtless reach £300,000, and the loss over and above that will probably reach half a million. The following is a list of the total net losses already ascertained by the local insurance companies:—National £4,200; Victoria, £6,950; Liverpool, London and Globe, £9,500; Queensland, £1,500, Standard, £4,500; Sun, £7,000; Northern, £9,000; London* and Lancashire, £10,000; Australian. Alliance, £3,000; Royal Exchange, £12,560; Norwich Union £9,000; Atlas, £4,500; New Zealand £10,500;. South British, £7,000; Alliance, £23,000; Royal, £30,000; Phoenix, £750; Guardiin, £5,500; North British, £7,000; State office, £4,300; United, £2,300; Yorkshire, £13,000. Total, £200,060; Lloyds, approximated, £50.000.