GREAT FIRE IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 115, 7 February 1908, Page 7

GREAT FIRE IN CHRISTCHURCH.

:—$ A BUSINESS'BLOCK ABLAZE. SEVERAL LARGE BUILDINGS DESTROYED. FLAMES SPREAD WITH GREAT RAPSDITY.

(BY TELEGRAPH —FItESS ASSOCIATION.) Christchurch, February.6. A great firo broke out at ten o'clock. Messrs. Ashby, Bergh and Co '' s ir ° nmo "' gery establishment in High Street is now (11.17 p.m.) gutted. Mr, Robert Malcolm's soft goods warehouse, Froeman's Restaurant, White Hart Hotel, and part of the back premises of Strange's drapery are all on fire and the flames are still spreading. The, damage will be very heavy. . (BY TELEGRAM—riIESS ASSOCIATION.) Cliristchurch, February 0. Probably the largest and most destructive fire that has yet occurred In Christchurch; broke out la,te to-night in one end of Messrs. Strange and Co.'s large block of buildings,' situated at the corner of High and Lichfield Streets, in the busiest part of the city. The firo started in a . large warehouse in Lichfield Street, filled with carpets and linoleum and other heavy furnishing materials, and in the spaco of a few minutes the whole building was a mass of flames. Nothing could be done to save it. . Meanwhile the fire had spread through t? tho building at the back, fronting on to High Street, and in turn to Messrs. Ashby, Bergii and co.'s ironmonger's establishment. The White Hart Hotel and other buildings In the vicinity were quickly in a blaze, and were rapidly destroyed with their contents..

Messrs. Co.'s warehouse in Lichfield Street, adjoining Messrs. Strange and Co.'s linoleum department, also caught alight, and the firo spread right through the building. ' The fire-proof walls saved, Messrs.;,SStrange, and Co.'s main buildins. but.up to midnlght the firo, was stillsbur'nlng-fierpely, and. many other buildings in the vicinity were threatened, > ■ : ■ THE LATEST. [By Telephone Spccial to .Tiii'. Dominion.] A message received in Wellington by telephone at 2.3p a.m. stated that the fire was then well under control. It went through Clifford's (Gashel Street), and got as far as Beath's draper's shop (Cashel Street).

The old portion of Messrs. Strange and Co.'s building, next to Lichfield Street, Is all gone, as well as the haberdashery, millinery, Manchester, and furniture departments, but the building is not completely wiped out. >! ' ■ . Ashby, Berghs', Tribe and Co.'s., Hulbert, Slaymaker. and'Co.'s, Freeman's, The White Hart, Robert Malcolm and Co.'s, D. Benjamin and Co.'s, P. Hayman and'Co.'s, and the whole of the D.I.C. are destroyed. THE DAMAGE. The total damage was estimated this morning at a euarter of a million. ' v , Nothing was known as to the amount of insurances. At 3 a.m. the fire was stated to be gradually burning itself out.

THE SCENE OF THE CQN^LAG • RATiOM. ■The area invoylved In the fire contains somD of the finest business premises in Christchuroh, and Is situated In the very hSart of the city. ; The huge building of Messrs. W. Strange and Go. forms the : sharp corner between High and Lichfield Streets, and Is of at least thrsa stories. It is directly opposite tha well-known clock,tower, arid on,tho east side; of the triangle so formed there is a large water reservoir* which would be used by the Brigade. Messrs. Strange and Company's building extended for many chains northwards up High Street, and the large shops of C. H. Bonnington, .chemist; Black, Seattle,' and Co., Drapers) Ashby, Bergh and Co., ironmongers; and Tribe and Co., tailors, are all virtually part of "the same building. These and others malte'one of the finest lines of shops in Christchuroh.. The White Hart Hotel, closer .to Cashel Street, is almost a: new building, constructed, of stone. The white hart surmounting it was a well-known landmark long before the present hotel was built. Several smaller shops, whioh have been destroyed, formed part of the bottom story of the hotel buildIng. Messrs. Malcolm and Co.'s building,, adjoining Strange's in Lichfield Street, was a very large warehouse. It is separated from Strange and Co.'s building, which forms the comer, by a narrow right ; of-way. Next in order along Lichfield Street Is the large warehouse of Messrs. Hayman and Co., importers. Then comes another narrow right-of-way, followed by the warehouse of Messrs. Benjamin and Co., next to which is the rear entrance of the D.I.C. The well-known confectioner's shop of Freeman's, Ltd., In High Street, Is almost a new structure, having been built at the ■same time as the hotel.