FIRE DESTROYS FACTORY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23052, 21 June 1940, Page 8

FIRE DESTROYS FACTORY

DAMAGE ASSESSED AT £70,000 BUILDINGS, STOCK AND PLANT LOST (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, June 20. Buildings, stock, and plant worth £70,000 were destroyed to-night when fire gutted the factory of New Zealand Slippers, Ltd., Railway avenue, Lower Hutt. Two engines of the Lower Hutt Fire Brigade were powerless to quell the blaze, which was watched by some thousands of people. The destruction of the factory will throw some 320 men and women out of work. The factory was a single-storey building of steel-and-brick reinforced construction. It was the first building in New Zealand of its particular kind of earthquake-proof construction. One wing, comprising the employees’ dining and social rooms, was of two storeys. The buildings covered an acre and were only three and a half years old. The managing-director of the company, Mr P. Edwards, arrived at the scene in time to see the final phases of the destruction of the building. He was visiting friends at Eastbourne, and was unaware, of the fire until an hour after the outbreak. Mr Edwards said that his company began operations in Wellington city. It grew steadily, and as more space was needed the factory was moved to Lower Hutt. The building was opened in January, 1937, and provided about 35,000 square feet of floor space. It was regarded as a model factory, designed for high efficiency in production and first-class conditions for the workers. There was also a self-contained concrete compartment for the storage of explosive material such as the cellulose used in the manufacture of the company’s products. Mr Edwards estimated the total loss at about £70.000, represented in the destruction of the building and plant and stocks of raw materials and goods in tnanufacture. He assessed the value of the materials and stocks at £40,000, the building at £16,000, and the plant, which was all modern, at £14,000. The destruction of the plant was a heavy blow at a time when it was extremely difficult to replace it from England. The loss was fully covered -by insurance. The contents were mainly felt; leather, and similar materials, but there, was also a quantity of explosive and inflammable materials, giy* cerine, and varnish and other compounds. Fire Spreads Rapidly Shortly before 9 o’clock the attention of a storekeeper at a dairy nearby was attracted by an explosion at tne back of the factory and he saw flames shoot up above the roof. In a few moments the whole back of the factory was ablaze. He ' sounded the received by the brigade at 9.2 p.m., and within a lew minutes the fire engines were on the spot and the fire men playing water on the flames from Sx leads. The fire had already a fierce grip, however, and it advanced steadily through the building which was soon a mass of flames. Aeotumn of dense smoke towered over Hutt Valley and was plainly visible in WellincJowds lty jammed the/ roadway in front of the factory, undiscouraged by the heat and occasional blasts of water from hoses. The police quickly took control and were assisted by boy scouts in holding back the crowds. Among the spectators were ™ an y factory hands, who watched as tneir means of livelihood crackled away. The assistant manager, Mr W. J. Kennedy, appeared on the scene soon after the fire broke out and was able to direct the firemen to remove a quantity of explosive material from a front room, preventing any danger to the public. After the start there were two explosions of some magnitude and a number of lesser ones. Apart from the crashes as sections of the iron roofs fell in and the walls collapsed, throwing up showers of sparks, the large area covered by the fire made a spectacle particularly impressive. By 10.30 o’clock the blaze was dying down and the factory virtually razed. Onlookers were leaving, but the fire burned on fiercely through the night. A calm evening and the absence of any other large building close at hand meant there was no danger of the fire spreading. The cause of the fire is not known. Mr Kennedy said that he locked up the factory at 6 o’clock and went through the buildings in darkness. There was then no sign of anything wrong and he was sure lie would have seen any flicker of light. He expressed amazement at the speed with which the fire ran through the building, although there was no wind and the substances were not. for the most part, readily combustible.