GREAT FIRE IN SYDNEY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 75, 31 March 1902, Page 5

GREAT FIRE IN SYDNEY.

THE BURNING OF HER MAJESTY'S

THEATRE.

DETAILS OF THE FIRE.

the Sydney/Daily Telegraph" of Monday last contains full details of the burning of Her Majesty's Theatre on the previous rooming. The reportsays:— The fire first attracted attention about ten minutes to six, when some passing- newsboys noticed a column of smoke issuing from behind the dome of Her Majesty's Buildings, and frantically shouted out "Fire!" The intelligence, however, did not filter through to the fire station until 6.15, .arid-•'when,, a few- minutes later the; brigadesarriveditwas to find the stage and auditorium one ■ great roaring mass of flame,.-.putting, all hope of effecting a"say«" of the theatre itself quite out of the question. This being so the nxet thing to- do was to direct all effort to preventing an extension, and considering the conglomerate nature of that particular clump of buildings this was not an easy matter. Fortunately, the elements favoured. What wind there was. came from the •west, blowing the flames for the most part clear of the stunted buildings which adjoin ?<\ on the eastern side. Had it been otherwise—had, say, the wind been blowing from the south, it is not pleasant to imagine what might have happened to the "entire block. As it is the firemen, are to be congratulated upon their success in confining the serious damage to the theatre biylding, of which only the cracked^outer shell now, remains.

Situated as it was the theatre was particularly awkward for firemen to get at. Only on the northern side was it directly accessible from the street, the other three sides beingframed in by building's—Her Majesty's Hotel on the front, the George Hotel on the Market-street side, and miscellaneous buildings in the rear. Through these and over them Mr Webb sent his men scamperingl like rats, and within ten minutes a good, steady stream was being played on. the fire from every available quarter. The Metropolitan/teen were soon supplemented by volunteers, and it was. not long before no less than eleven steamers'were trying odd,s with the enemy. ' In the meantime the inmates of Her Majesty's and the George Hotels had been roused, and were frantically rushing out into the street, bringing with them as much of their belongings as they could carry. Many of them were women, mostly in their nightdresses, with in a few cases an impromptu wrap or skirt in addition. Too much excited to realise the seri-. ousness of the situation, many of them seemed to think it fine fun, laughing1 heartily as they lined tip on the opposite side of Pitt-street in order to get a better view. For Sdme'time'the firemen's efforts appeared to have little or no appreciable effect. • At half-past 6 the; rear wall of the theatre collapsed, falling on the roof of a bakehouse at the rear of a Market street shop and, as it afterwards proved, entombing a woman. Quickly following on this about eighteen yards of the upper wall abutting on the lane on the northern side toppled, injuring three firemen, one of them seriously. Although the cracking of this wall had been heard for some minutes before, the fair was not expected so soon, and it was sheer good luck that several policemen who were at work in"the lane at the time, managed to escape whole.

By a quarter to 7 the back part of the building- had been fairly gutted, and the efforts of the brigade were concentrated on saving the front building, the back windows of which were now alight. The electric wires, however, greatly hampered' the firemen in getting their hose- ladders in position. On the Market street side, however, an iron balcony runningl out from one of the tap storeys of the George Hotel, itself saved jri the first instance by the thickness of the dividing wall, gave the men a vantage ground from which to play down a good constant stream. Others again scrambled right up on to the dome, dragging their hoses after them, thus getting well above'their-work. | Towards 11 o'clock, when a solitary hose from the George Hotel roof was playing1 on the ruins of the theatre, the rumour went out that a servant at Mr Gaffney's (balcer) was missing, and a rush was made in the direction of Theatre lane, at the bottom of which a number of firemen, together withMr. Gaffney's staff, could be seen searching, among. the hundreds of tons of bricks, flour, corrugated iron, and beams, which were all mixed up in a confused heap. Telephone messages were, sent in all directions,- but no trace of the missing woman could be found, although the. hope was entertained that she might have got in among the crowd.

As time wore on,, however, it was plain that the unfortunate woman had been unable to escape, and the crowd surged around Market and Castlereagh streets, eager to obtain any news from the searchers. A barricade "had to be erected across the lane in CastU-rea-gh-street to prevent the crowd'rushing1 through and im-( peding the work, of the firemen and bakers engaged in the' search. Un** fortunately the rumour turned out to be only too true, for shortly before 2 o'clock the searchers came upon the body of Mrs Pye, not more than three or .four yards' from the passage way of Mr Gaffney's shop.., Another second almost would have given the deceased time to reach safety.

When the. top portion of the eastern wall which backed the stage collapsed and 'fell over, it destroyed a large bakery belonging to Mr B. Gafrney, whose shop is in Market-street, in'addition to smashing through, several back bedrooms of the adjoining premises. Gaffney's bakehouse was situated immediately in the shadow ojL the wall in question, and along-side it was a kitchen reached by a side passage from the foot of the stairs in Gaffney's house. The bedrooms were all upstairs in the

main building, and these were not

touched. Two men, however, slept in a room oyer the. bakehouse, but

the}', being warned by the firemen, got' out in good time. Mrs Bella Pye, a servant at Gaffney's, after being awakened in ,ths main building, dressed and apparently went into rbe kitchen for something, as after she had been missed for some

time a searek revealed her dead hodjv ■underneati; the :ruins(. between the kitchen' and the passage-way. The deceased" must have been killed instantaneously, as her neck was found to have been broken as well as some of her. limbs. There was also a terrible gash in the forehead, caused apparently by a, rafter. The fact that a brooch was found in the dead -woman's hand suggested that she may have gone back to the kitchen to get this article, although one of the inmates of the house imagines that.she had the brooch while dressing. . ... • V. _

" Every stick, and every stitehV— in fact,1 everything belonging to 'B£n Hur' has gone," said Mr Vincent, Mr Williamson's associate manager, "and the loss is tremendous. To add to th.c great loss, the whole .^ the properties, effects, scenery, mac chinery, etc., were uninsured,, with the exception of two dynamos used for working. the electric light machinery. All told .there were .about 500 people —principals, chorus, auxiliaries, musicians, stage hands, ete^ engaged in the production, and they, of .course, have been thrown out of employment. The cost of the -production, amounted, to several thousand pounds, and. Mr Williamson's :, total loss must be nearly.. £15,000. The!interruption in the season through the plague, just when the play had obtained a firm hold of the people, was a great set-back, but the business was picking up again, and no doubt the season would have been a long arid prosperous one. But so-far as it has gone, of course, it, has not repaid the initial cost of the production." The loss is made heavier by the fact that it is impossible for a long period to replace the play, even if Mr Williamson decided to try his luck again with it, on account of the immense preparation necessary. Mr Vincent states that the period of preparation for what has been generally acknowledged to be the greatest dramatic Spectacle seen in Australia, was about a year. Leisurely at first, aad then for the.last month or so, as hard as they could drive. "I do not think," said.Mr Vincent', "that the piece oould be played agairi under six months, even by cabling 'to America for duplicates of the machinery." ■

A telegram was sent to Mr Williamson, who was in Melbourne, by Mr Vincent. Early in the day Mr Vincent received the following reply-:^. "Terrible disaster, but, thank God, it did not happen during the performance. Sorry for my company and the people who suffer with, me." The immediate monetary loss involved in the destruction of the scenery and properties of "Ben Hur," Mr Williamson states, is very severe. Practically everything has disappeared. The production was an extraordinarily lavish one, and cost £6000 to ©ut on the-stage. One scene alone, withj its gorgeous accessories, was responsible for £2000. The only' insurance on all the property in Her Majesty's was a trifling amount on some electrical machinery. Practically Mr Williamson loses the whole of this £6000. : -:.V. '.. . '■; '-Z An unfortunate phase of ttie/--jft^r ■Won is ) thatßie'ar'M^;lirou|'hiiSr* from the Old World, and auxiliaries, numbering, .jMjc,-. . Williajp.son states, about 450, are thrown out of employment so far as Australia is concern^ ed- .' .■"■'■' '■' . ••■■-•■-• '■' '■

'Mr Williainsoin said to an- inter* viewer: "The public see only the immediate result.As lessee of the theatre for twelve months ahead, my trouble is that my engagements will hay to be cancelled;, that is, so faras I can see at.present.-'. -I had. made arrangements frt great expense to bring an American company to Australia this year, and I have also made arranger ments with an English company. Then my comic opera company was to appear in Sydney in a'few weeks. These plans will have to be abandoned. The loss to myself must be heavy and I cannot say what my arrangements for the future will be at thia stage."