GREAT INTEREST IN FIRE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25346, 20 November 1947, Page 6

GREAT INTEREST IN FIRE

AUSTRALIA ASKS FOR NEWS NEWSPAPERS RUSHED BY PUBLIC Interest in the fire was world-wide, and an indication of how quickly the news travelled was given by an announcement from the 8.8. C., London, which was broadcast in a news review received in New Zealand at 11 pan. on Tuesday. The fire was described as one of the most spectacular in the history of New Zealand, and the announcer said that a number of customers and some of the’ staff were believed to have been trapped. Telephone messages to “The Press” from Australian newspapers and agencies asking for special reports were frequent on Tuesday night, and sheaves of telegrams from all parts of New Zealand asking for special articles and photographs of the fire were still being received last evening. Newspaper sales yesterday were probably the greatest in the history of Christchurch. A small group of persons were waiting for the first edition of “The Press” shortly after 2 a.m.. and copies were taken to the scene of the fire and distributed to firemen, policemen. Salvation Army officers, and other workers. Street vendors were rushed by the early workers to arrive in the city, and about 8 a.m. one man was surrounded by several hundred persons waiting to buy a paper. So great were his sales that he had to get a sugar-bag to hold his small change. For the greater part of the morning there was a steady stream of persons in and out of “The Press” office.