THE DUNEDIN FIRE

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2508, 26 January 1887, Page 2

THE DUNEDIN FIRE

Ddnedin, January 24i Yesterday's tevrible and fatal , lire was the most' extensive disaster of the kind that had yet occurred in Dunedin, the loss of property being now estimated at nearly £200,000, of which less than half is covered by insurance. Of the Insurance Companies,, the local companies come ''off lightly, The Colonial bad a. narrow •eacape, having declined to renew, -savb at a small advanae oil the premium,. .wbiQli the. Company refused to pay, lundercjwd. that the. local manager wttroiiglyopposed to even on .there toriaa, but wag pvep ruled at bead-quarts, andhe was instructed to grant it on .'these terms,wbjch were rejected—a, stroke of iuok for the company which 'iwill ; be appreciated by its numerous Wellington shareholders. The scene yesterday afternoon was a most remarkable one. I remember some great fires in London, and the Opera House fire in Wellington, but I' do not remember fever previously seeingso vast mass of flame at one spot. The flames, which were of the strongest blood red AAlam *ll

color, ascended in a nearly pyramidal form to anenormoua height iu the air;' the smoke being of a peouliar yellowish' hue, which reminded me of that given forth by the Japanese " daylight fireworks "as their shells burst, Another noteworthy feature was the amazing swiftness with': which-'lhe fire spread' through an immense block of buildings built entirely of brick, stone and cement, all the partitions even being of those incombustible materials. The flames would not have gained Quicker or more deadly hold in the flimsiest «matchbox" of a wooden., building, or even in the Government Buildings .at Wellington, which are expressly' desfonAd tin ; K„,.„

- ituiuii mo uesignea to burn . fast and furiously if they once catch light,.... In a comparatively brief period ' the gigantic .building, or blockof build--1 inga, from, its Basement storv to- its fourth floor, was one seething roaring 1. mass of fire fcarfyl to gaze upon even in. tho brilliant sunshine. Had it occurred the effect would have f. ;fe&uwful in iia'grandeur, As it was . tiie ..magnitude «of: the property at i. .;* multitude of excited i : of confusion combined ..to make the. i ociaßion yery : especially in; ; its wild disturbance of the usual calin '■ of a Dunedin Sunday; •' So far as I ■ could .'judge the Firo Brigades did. all i that lay.in. their pojyer, which was not very rauch. ' Aif to the fire itself they; i had simply (o leVihe. firo burn itself; "out.- Their could.not check that, .But they did good service ■ in preventing the spread of the mis', shiof. The absence of - the wind was .also very favorable.-'- Had a Welling- j a great part: ofthe ity leeward of .such a gigantic blast fur. nace must have been swept away. The weak point in yesterday's. proceedings was the failure to public off the burning building. Had this boen done the deplorable loss of life which has shocked the colony would have been wholly, escaped, hut there was no syatemafcio organisation, and outsiders crowded in with a most laudable and unselfish, but utterly ill-judged eagernea3 to save property j and hence it was that tho first victim was destroyed, and through tempting other gallant men to strive for "his rescue involved three more in'his fate, The scene during the five hours while such frantic efforts wero being made to release the IMAM tltnn it. ~ 1 t , •

buried men was of the most heartrending character, The facts that the widowed wife and orphaned daughter of one victim were waiting in agonised suspense for news of a husband and father buried, while yet living, was saddening enough, but still worse was the spectacle of two ' living men held tightly in the jaws of ' the mass of burning debris and under- i going the acutest Buffering, from which : they were extricated after many hours' « torment, to expire immediately after 1 their release. Happily it was possible i trt Arlmintafoi* i« ,

io aammister cmoroiorm from time'to time, and so their agonies were in some degree mitigated, The ruins to-day present a weird aspect, The fire is still burning fiercely ia several parts but is. carefully watched and kept from extending. The vast area of the building was never seen to such effect,' hat I must add that the weakness of tho structure in many' respects was also rendered very noticeable. At least so it struck me and many other spectators The walls fronting

-- '•"wa-Btreet seemed to me positively flimsy j n c J. nessfor bo large, .and ponderouslooking a structure. It may that they were really stronger" than they, seem, but such is their appearance, and the. .ease with which they were pulled down after the fire was mostly got under,'seenjs to support' tornv,, II; b* s , completed in, %, 1876, covered'an price being £IO,OOO. -There were used w its construction 2450 cubic feet of cut stone, 580 yards (??.rubbje, 324,000 ' bricks, 400 yards of metal for concreie, 1 280 barrels of cement, 326,000. feet of timber,.l2,ooo feet of glass, 4 ton)).of. lead,' and 14 tons of iron. The > machinery, which was of the moit com, ■* plete nature, was apecially purchased I in England, • Besides the. t sawing machinery there wefflVmany ; wonderful machines for saving-; labor, 1 which were capable of doing the most difficult kinds of work. Great'pre- S cautions had been made* in case of an - v outbreak of fire. The .walla had : beei built as closely as possible,'. and,whdre' f ( Openings were required iron doors had been- made, ; Perforated,. •, iver? fad '(]

< MM,. and through these wateM steam could' te applied, so as to H the whole piace flooded. Night® i. day watchmen were formerly emplHH but recently I understand that, oß| to the retrenchment policy.purgH dispensed With. / The brigln.-of. thfl ; is still the deepest-iioyffl i, Buioois, were current to*day HI . 'inother porsob iwm . •' Heflß . supposed, tabebfirfed under the rfi| bjit go fat nothing his! • transpire®* 1 give be hoped If unfounded. Afcffisßß the only'' feasible .theory as to U origin of the fire seems to be incJfijj > arism, The result has been to tffl oyer .150 men , out of work,—® correspondent of. the New Ze&fiß | .THE'INQUEST. H Donedjn, January 2H i An inquest waa held to-day onsßß ? bodies of the four men .who lost tHB 1 lives at the fire at the Iron and wS| ' ware Company's premises. H| ' evidence is, similar to that which-M i been telegraphed. The® ~ nesses spoke in 'admiration of the duot.of the rescuers, . The fourth lag ' ,b?s been recognised;aa that of RiniH . Fascoe, a seaman j that the verßß was that the deceased, H. E, Ebqullß Robert Wills, Andrew Millar, iHS - E. Fascoe met their deaths by accidfifl : A rider was added, expressingsympJM with Mrs Esquilant, and expressitfiß hope that Francis MoEwan, Fireißjß McKenzie, arid Constables ChisbH and Clark, would received sH fitting reward for their - iondffl which was deserving of great praise® . INSURANCES. H Search was made today in case era , bodies might be buried under the raH ; of the fire at the Iron and WoodvßS Company, but it is thought it was BS exhaustive. It is now almost certjffl that no more lives were lost.' Wnj was pumped on till a late hour ® afternoon,, The only portion of h 8 premises standing are the drying roflß the smithy, and the top portion of B| warehouse. All the machinery BB completely wrecked, and the engH and boiler bouse waa red hot, 'lsm afternoon a safe belonging to R9 Larnacb, which was in the burnß| building was taken but, but it wasH hot that all the papers therein t9 fire, and these with several artlJH of jewellery were destroyed. correct insurances cannot be knonfl till the strong room is examined. !l9| following insurances'.'are at pres® known New Zealand—Mill, Llfißß South. British—Mill,''Lssoo j woljjg ware, LSOO j iroumpngerv, L7sbß furniture,' L 750 j total L 25.000 (sfllj ■Mutual—Mill, £soo:j' Ironmongeßß £750; furniture, £7l)o} total, £2O(H Royal—Mill, £looo]. • ironmongers .£SOO j furniture, £750; total £22lS| Northern—Mill,.. £looo,' Victoria®} furniture, £2OOO. ■ Liverpool, Londffl and Globe—Woodware., £2000; irJjn mongery, £2OOO j furniture £loolS[ total, LSOOO. . NojfwicK Union—lrqH mongery, £SBO. .London and Lajß cashire—offices, £1000; i2OOO jfanjiturfili.OOO; total, £SOOH iUmted—Mil);iso(jj woodware, £SOwH ironmongery;;' |Tp6iji:M £ISOO, furniture,, £IOiJO j total, ' £2M Pbtenix—Mill/..'i£500;" wodiw|in I £IOOO ; ironmongery, £1000; tot® £2500. Equitable-Mill, L 25 0; iroM mongery.- L 50 0; total, L 750, Cofl tinental and bfficea not reprfl| aented in the colonies, L1L250 : totfl x.40.905. W