FIRE IN QUEEN-STREET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 2376, 6 September 1871, Page 6

FIRE IN QUEEN-STREET.

i PARTIAL INSTRUCTION OF THE ZEALAND INSURANCE CO\IPA\T'3 | BUILDING. - We had almost begun to hope that the wi n t eP . would pass over without our having to chro- . niele any moro disastrous fires taking pl ace > our midst, for since the destruction of a large . number of houses in Pitt-street a considerable { interval baa elapsed ; but we regret that such I hopes have been premature, for on Sunday ' morning, 27th ult., a very serious fire broke ' out in Queen-etrect, the scene of tlie fire be in? I the magnificent building lately erected by the ' New Zealand Insurance Company at a very 3 great expense. This building must be well ' known to everyone in town, as it forms one of I the most conspicuous and striking objects in - Queen-street, and is the seat of business i of a very large number of business people l who have offices on the premises, while s hundreds of persons dabbling in shares daily i transact their business in the central hall. . The lower portion of the building i 3 ] e j- 0 j into offices, mostly occupied by sharebrokers • in the upper portion are likewise a number of } offices occupied by sharebrokers—bv the official liquidator, by Mr. John oheehan, the solicitor, by Captain Clayton, and others. The s lower front of the building is occupied by the • Insurance Company on one side, and the Gaj i Company on the other. None of this portion - of the building has been materially injured - the fire having been almost exclusively con--3 fined to the Exchange news-room, at the j extreme back—to the restaurant, which was • to be above —and to the floor above that » again, which was set apart for a hall for , meetings, &c. The whole of this baek part ' of tlia building was lately leased by Mr. Cvrus Haley. The lower floor was fitted up "as a s news-room, and partially occupied by offices. 1 The first floor was intended for a dining-room, » and was fitted up at great expense, and on a " very large and haudsome scale. This was to " | have been publicly opened on the failowin" - I Tuesday, under the management of ilr. Rior--5 dan, but it has now been totally destroved. r I It was only on the Saturday aft ernoon that we f i paid a visit of inspection to this room, which l | then presented a very handsome appearance— e 1 the long table in the centre of the room, and the tables at the sides, being laid out with e everything necess lry for the accommodation of 200 or 300 people ; and the entire room presented really a most handsome and elegant coup d'ceil. Mr. Haley had gone to a very 3 large expense in the matter, and had not this 5 untimely fire occurred the dining-room would " have been one ot' the largest and most com- • | plete in the colonies. As mentioned before, t the floor above this was set apart for meetings, r &c., and immediately at the rear of the platform was the kitchen belonging to the reB staurant, garnished with everything necessary for commen ing operations on a very lar»e ~ scale. The fires in the cooking range had not s been lighted up on Saturday, but they were to have been made up, in preparation 0 for the morrow. The fire consequently could £ not have commenced in this portion of the • premises. Having thus given our readers ' some idea of the interior of the build--1 ing, we will now proceed to detail T the facts connected with the fire of - Sunday morning. About ten minutes to three , o'clock Constable Wadman was passing near f to the Fire Insurants building when he smelt 1 a burning smell, and looking up into the air f saw a cloud of smoke arising from ihe upper j portion of the building. He at once passed over the road and rang the bell which com- , municates with the watchman's room, and on j that person putting his head from an upper window, he shouted out to him that the building was on fire, and told him to come ! down and open the front gate. The man, [ however, understood him to say that a fire > was raging somewhere else, and immediately r commenced to give the alarm upon the bell in i the clock tower. There was thus some little delay, but Wadham again pulled at the bell, , and in a few minutes the watchman came down and opened the front gates. In the meantime "Wadman had been joined by Constable Brennan, and through the gates the two could see a flickcr of lights at the end of the hail, as though the fire were burning in the Exchange News Room. The first thins Brennan did was to go round to the back of the premises, and make an examination of the ovens and windows, all of which he found were fastened, an'l with no appearance of having been broken into. An attempt was then made to get into the news-room, but Mr. Haley, the proprietor, having taken the keys with him, there was considerable diiiii culty and delay before this could be effected. In the meantime, the fire-bell had been giving forth the alarm, which was taken up by the other fire-bells, and in a very few minutes Superintendent Asher and a number of the firemen and Inspector Broliam and a number of the police had arrived upon the spot. Large numbers of people very soon began to assemble, and a dense smoke enveloped this part of Queen-street. The engine was got to work as rapidly as possible, but here ag;ua ( another delay took place, for on affixing the hose to the water-pipes from the Domain, [• it was found that the water had been ! cut off. In the meantime the fire was increasing, and on the jExchange doors being burst open, the staircase on the right-hand side was seen to be on fire, and a portion of the ceiling on the same side was burning fierce'./. A crowd of people at once swarmed , into the building, eager to be of service, and L in a very short time the news-room was cleared of chairs, seats, tables, stands, and indeed everything that the people could lay their hands on without being, burnt. Even . the bar counter on the left-hand side was , draggod out and pitched into the road. O.' 1 course all this time the force of the fire was t j increasing, and the flames in the first floor j appeared to have full possession of the loiijr ] | room, from the windows of which, at the ( i back, masses of flame lee.ped forth, while the • smoke rolled in clouds up Shortland-strcet, tho wind blowing strongly from the west. After some further delay tho hose from Messrs. Thornton, Smith, and Firth's mill was attached to that of the brigade, aud a good supply of water obtained ■ from the same establishment, and poured into • the building back and front. By half-past three there was an immense crowd assembled both in Queen-street and in the rear of the building, and the flames were leaping madly through the roof, throwing a lurid glare over the entire town. At ono time it was feared that the whole of the building must go, for the wind, as mentioned before, was blowing strongly from the westward. But the firemen maintained their places manfully, and fought with the flames for mastery, pouring upon them the fullest supply of water they could obtain. The damage is as follows: —The Exchange news-room gutted; the first and second floor utterly destroj- ed ; the glass roof ut ; lie centre hall broken and cracked in many places, and the doors of most of the offices smashed in. The New Zealand Insurance Office, however, was not touched, as some of the directors were present, and saw that the fire was not likely to reach this part of the building. But with this exception eTery office is injured more or less. A good deal of the furniture was saved from the Exchange j Rooms, and all from the olHees, although, of j course, injured more or less. Mr. Haley was | insured in the Royal for £1000, and the Insurance building itself was insured a short time ago in the Victoria Office, for £5000. The loss will be a very severe one to MrHaley, who was just making a start, but with the most material success ; and although it is possible that the amount of insurance may cover his actual loss, it will certainly not compensate him for his brilliant prospects, which are thus at one blow utterly destroyed. We have not been able to learn the origin of the fire, but it is said to have been first seen on the staircase of the news-room leading to the floor above. A fire inquest was subsequently held, when the jury returned an open verdict.