BELFAST FIRE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18591, 16 January 1926, Page 12

BELFAST FIRE.

great damage caused. LOSSES ABOUT £9OOO. The insurance companies affected will lose about £9OOO as a result of the destructive fire on Thursday evening in the wool room of the Belfast freezing works of Thomas Borthwick and Sons (Australasia), Ltd. Estimates were made of the percentages of loss yesterday, and these amount to 90 per cent, in the case of the building and machinery, and 75 per cent, of the wool. The whole of the works are insured in the London and Lancashire Office for £116,000, and the cover on the wool foom and plant was £7040 ; In this case the loss is over £6OOO. There is some doubt as to whether Lloyd's Office holds all the insurance on the wool, and the local agents cabled yesterday to London, enquiring for particulars. A reply- is expected to-day As tl'ere were 136 bales and th a vaiue per bale was approximately £3O, the wool was worth about '£4ooo. -Fne outbreak completed destroyed 60 per cent., and as the damage to the remainder was about the same proportion, only about £IOOO worth can be salvaged. Practically the whole of the woodwork of the wool buiWirg was, <lc_ stroyed, ard the wool whicii wt.B not , burnt was affected by water and smoke. Hampered, by Debris. "S , At a cursory glance the damage to the wool-drying machines does not appear to be so great as was at first supposed, but no accurate estimate can be given until the debris is cleared away and thfl machines ttrs taken do wu. A. great deal of charred wooa which covers the contents of the room is delaying the cleaning-up work. Endeavours will be made to carry on the works with as little delay as possible, particularly in view of the fact that the season is just opening.. It was particularly fortunate for the company that tho little wind there was came from the right direction. Thus the pelts department suffered no damage, the fire-resisting doors proving efficacious in confining the flames. No clue as to the origin of the fire has been discovered, and the whole affair is shrouded in mystery.