COVENT GARDEN FIRE

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25994, 23 December 1949, Page 3

COVENT GARDEN FIRE

LONG FIGHT AGAINST OUTBREAK i (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) c . , . , LONDON, December 21. omoke-blackened firemen to-night were still fighting London’s worst basement blaze for 20 years—under the famous Covent Garden flower market. The firemen were working in relays, ana wore special breathing apparatus. _ rt A lready one fireman has died and 20 others have been sent to hospital, because of the effects of the pungent, acrid smoke still billowing from the basement openings. The firemen poured thousands of gallons of water through the flues and ventilators. The great heat has cracked the thick concrete floor of the market.

It is estimated that 1250 gallons of water a minute have been-poured on the fire continuously since it began. More than 150 cylinders of oxygen nave been used, and more than 700 firemen have been in action. The flower market on the floor above the basement has been closed—a major blow to the 400 stallholders who were preparing for the Christmas rush. Many have set up stalls in the streets outside. N.Z. BALLET DANCERS IN LONDON RETURN FROM U.S. TOUR LONDON, December 21. Three New Zealand ballet dancers who toured the United States and Canada with the Sadler’s Wells Company have returned to London full of enthusiasm. They are Miss Rowena Jackson, Bryan Ashbridge (both of Auckland), and Alexander Grant (Wellington). The company, they said, had a tremendous reception everywhere, and all tickets were sold out well before the night of every performance. Miss Jackson, in addition to understudying Moira Shearer of “Red Shoes” fame, who danced “Bluebird” in the “Sleeping Beauty,” had prominent roles in other ballets. Miss Jackson, who is approaching stardom, will nave her first “test,” which will have an important effect on her career, when she dances “Bluebird” at Covent Garden on January 26, 27 and 28. Alexander Grant, who has won golden opinions in London and New York, and is regarded by Ninette de Valois as well on the way to stardom, danced the leading role of the jester in “Cinderella” during the tour. Bryan Ashbridge had various roles, including the cavalier in the prologue of “Sleeping Beauty.” National interest was taken in the company’s tour and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Stafford Cripps) praised it as a “dollar earner.” The dancers, in fact, were nicknamed “dollarinas.”

NAZI WAR CRIMINALS FREED EARLIER RELEASE FOR GOOD CONDUCT LONDON, December 21. Five of Hitler’s trusted lieutenants were released from the Lansberg war crimes prison to-day—several months early for good behaviour. The Lansberg correspondent of the Associated Press says, in reporting this, that they were convicted at the Nuremberg trials of offences ranging from atrocities against Allied prisoners to membership in the S.S. guard and plundering conquered countries. The five were a former Wehrmacht general, Karl Hollidt, who had been convicted of atrocities against prisoners and civilians; Georg von Schnitzler, a former director of I. G. Farben, who was convicted of taking part in Nazi plundering; Josef Altstoetter, an official of the Ministry of Justice, convicted of S.S. membership; Ernst Bohle, former head of the Nazi foreign organisation;- and Emil Puhi, former vice-president of the Reichsbank. BRUSSELS TREATY POWERS STATUS OF MEMBERS OF ARMED FORCES LONDON. Dec. 21. The Foreign Secretary (Mr Ernest Bevin) and diplomatic representatives of the other four Brussels Treaty Powers signed at the Foreign Office an agreement laying down the status of members of the armed forces of the treaty Powers. The agreement defines the conditions applicable to the armed forces of any one Power stationed in the territory of another. They will be exempt from passport and visa regulations, will carry a trilingual identity card—Dutch, English, and French—and will work under trilingual movement orders. Provision is made for hospital treatment of troops, travelling facilities, exemption from income, tax, and other measures to ensure that the forces are not unduly penalised by foreign service.

LION KILLS WOMAN TRAINER SON ESCAPES INJURY NEW YORK, December 21. Three children to-day saw a lion kill their mother, Mrs Kay Schaeffer, an animal trainer. A big African lion leaped at Mrs Schaeffer’s throat as her son, Michael, aged 18, opened its cage at a training farm in Los Angeles. The lion then turned on Michael when he tried to run for help. His screams attracted an elephant trainer, who beat the lion senseless with an iron pipe. Mrs Schaeffer died almost instantly. Michael was unhurt. Two other children, aged 14 and four, saw their mother killed. Mrs Schaeffer, whose professional name was Madame Kovar, was seriously injured when a lioness mauled her at Penrith, New South Wales, in March, 1947. On that occasion she had just begun the evening performance at Wirth’s Circus when the lioness attacked her. Her husband and •attendants drove off the lioness with whips. Madame Kovar spent six weeks in hospital, but later appeared with the circus on its New Zealand tour.

ATTEMPT TO BLOW UP UNION OFFICES

DETROIT MOTOR WORKERS’ HEADQUARTERS NEW YORK, Dec. 21. An attempt was made last night to blow up the headquarters of the United Automobile Workers’ Union in Detroit. The union is affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organisations. Thirty-nine sticks of dynamite were used, but the fuses were defective. Assassination attempts have been made on the president of the United Automobile Workers’ Union (Mr Walter Reuther) and two of his brothers who are also union officials, but all had left the union headquarters when the latest plot was discovered. An_ anonymous telephone call to a newspaper office early last night warned of the dynamite plot, but the police failed to find the explosive. It was not discovered until later by a nightwatchman who found the dynamite wrapped as a Christmas package, jammed under the stairway of , the building. Two fuses had burned to within a fraction of an inch of the dynamite before going out.