Fire in Wellington.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2585, 29 April 1887, Page 2

Fire in Wellington.

We take the following items of the disastrous fire in Wellington, from last evening's Press ;—This morning, between the hours of 4 and 5, the Mannors-strepfc firebell rang out an alarm of fire, which quickly filled the streets with the" .startled populace. There was no occasion for a searching scrutiny for the direction of the fire, for it disclosed itself at once, in a column of smoke and flame, as being in the vicinity of the wharf, but few suspected, when'thoy first saw the outbreak, that the building wrapped in the fire fiend's embrace was the magnificient structure, which, but a little more than two years, had beon erected and fitted at a cost of £26,000, for the combined uses of the Post and Telegraph Offices, Customs and Telephone Exchange. Such, however, was unhappily soon discovered to be the case, and despite the most onergetio efforts of the Brigade, the immense building was completely gutted. The turn out of the Brigades was smart, indeed. In less than five minutes the Brandon-street section were on the scene, and quickly fixing a' doubleheaded hydrant in Panama-street near the burning building, ran out their hose expeditiously, and at once played two streams of water on the blazing pile. The other sections of the Brigade also did not lose any time in putting in an appearance, the Manners-street, ■ Newtown, and Thorndon detaohments arriving on the scene with their gear in a surprisingly short space of time. The Brigade took up positions around the P.oßt ; offic9, aud soon had nine streams of water playing on the flames. Tlie'-presoMre. at. the cutset was .not so good as could have been wished, but was improved later on. Just before .dawn the • sight' was a particularly grand one.: fierce flames, mantled in wreaths of dark smoke, roso in a magnificonfc column, it seemed, to the sky above. . The flames lapped out of all the windows, and licking the walls with fiery tonguo, racked' both plaster and brick, and then burst through, as if in demoniacal exultation at their sucoess The tower surmounting the building wis encircled in fire, but still the clock situated there chimed until the last. At &.80;.ibAfoutidations'.' of the tower were 'almost' burned through. As the half hour 1 was reached, the i olook commenced as usual- to chime, ' and had just concluded ■ striking the ' second quarter, when the vibrations 1 of the bells seemed to complete the [ work of the .fire on the supports of the ; tower, aud with a crash the remains i of the superstructure, together with i the clock—which had tolled its own . death knell—were hurled to the basement below, while a terrific shower of sparks ascended from the passage through which the falling portion of J tho building had passed. During the i progress of the fire the Post and Telei graph employees were not idle. In i oach department strenuous exertions ' were made to save everything. In the j Post Office, as far as can at present be ' ascertained, little or nothing in the way of papers and records have been ; lost, a fact which reflects great credit ' on the heads of the office and those , under them. Mr Hart (a young i clerk) states that after the operators ( on "late cables (Messrs W. Oopeland . and W.-Taylor) left the office at about [ 4 o'clock ho was left alone. There was no sign of fire when the operators left, as they always looked round the I room prior to departing to see if all ; was safe. At about 4.80 he heard a ' woman shout out" fire!" in the street, 1 and he at onco rang up the Manners- , street Fire Station. Just as ho had 1 done this Mrs Davis rushed into his ; room and informod him the office was \ on fire. Ho went to the Press reporter's room (second floor) and upon l opening the door found the room to be , full of flame and smoke, whioh 1 apparently came up the lift whioh oom- [ municated with the mail room below, i He immediately closed the door and ■ the windows in order to check the progress of the fire, and having in-. ' structcd the Fire Brigade, he proceeded to auswer the rings from all direotions enquiring tho whereabouts of the fire. i He stuck to this duty until he stood in ! considerable danger of being roasted . or buried by the ruins, and only left [ upon being advised to do so by the firemon. There was no insurance on , the Post Office.