PREDICTION FULFILLED.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 116, 8 February 1908, Page 6

PREDICTION FULFILLED.

A WONDERFUL SICHT. • The>sight -just at this timo was, a most wonderful / one. " All -the line of buildings covoring the long'frontago of a High Street ■was one mass of leaping flames. Every now and then camo from the back of the buildings 'tho heavy sound of walls falling. - The glass •;of the-windows'broke and fell in' showers, crashing through-tho'vorandahs, and in Ashby; Bergh and Co.'s qmto a fusillade of cart- I ridges and small explosions: of, powdor kept going-off and persistently. The fire-1 men: kept at work, hampered most terribly i ,ag theyworoby the want of snfiicient water. I Tho prediction, of: Superintendent Smith that, given v biE fire, m,.the D.I.C. block, tho water Biipply would be inadequate, was quito borne out.. The. railway engine: got on to •tho river,,but the great length of hose.prevented the supply doing the amount of ex;tmguishing. .>rork' which, .the. great power of* the engino would have enabled it to do. Tho fire,,aided by the wind, continued to:advancc; and .speedily -the wholo-.block was. m: Haines ground-floor 'to parapet. .The -White Hart continued, to' hum funouslv,; and bvl a.m. the-state of affairs was that the buildings occupied Ashby,' Bergh and Co., • Tribo and: Co:, Tucker, (jeweller), •Williamson' (chemist). Slavmakcr and Co., the White - Hart', tfot el, . Main (bootmakor), and ±ho Anglo-Now.iZeslaiid Cyclo Co., were .practically destroyed. The;shops of Walker (tobacconist),:, and. •Parker, (men's mercory), ■were not at ;thi6 :poriod on fire, : but. the owners of tho stocks were standing bv with convoyancos:;ready to Tomovei,their goods. -.-At tho back.of Parker's a large body of firo was coming from the ■ western side of . tho White iHart,,Hotel..' The Firo Brigade, got a.good bodv of.'.water on to tho flames at the back; 'and ; lhelS ithem.'in';.check; . A CHECK EASTWARD.

. Tho Brigade devoted their attention ;io tho ■rums of Ashb?,';Borgh, and Co.'s shop, ioas to prevent the possibility. of the-extension of .the fire,.to: Strango'-s block beyond. This, with ..the .help,, of, tho.;,brick wall, they were enabled to:do;;and:to confine it in tho'block to the wostward. Had the firo -got a hold .to, tho eastward j<, into;.'the. large ■ block: of /tho'. drapery: portion of-Messrs. fetrango and Co., the fire would havo been even moro disastrous ■than has been the case. / Although-nothing but the bare shell ■of tho White Hart was left, standing, the; flames ,did not sweep the two-story., building:, at the corner in which the premises of' Messrs. .-Walker (tobacconist) and J. H. Parker and Co. ■ (drapers) are situated.. Tins- was probably due.to the building being-'considerably• lower than tho White Hart, . the ■ flames • consequently not reaching low onough'for them- to catch fire. Wardell'S building was-not .so lucky, the -back portion" of the premises, where bacon-curing is carried oil, being considerably , damaged by, fire and 'water. From, the front, however, .'thebuildings look-, as-, though ■ they have, escaped; Another fortunate-building was. the Bank of Australasia, .which was also spared.. Not so tho D.1.C., however,"fbravery quickly it was a,raging, inferno, and l tho windows, ■ the- dis-■plays:orwhich;'h(id-=befen' so;often; admired by the. public, were.' filled:;with a mass orflamos,- * jjhar ! ;ico«LWDtsyof, Jlilnsy - matorial''-being de.-: voured in a few minutes. .'Presently tho'rooffell m, with a loud -roport, and, continuing onits way;-the conflagration swept into Hal-,' lonstem's 1 .'.". The -fall -of - blazing debijis-,was accompanicd by the crash of tho huge plate-, glass .windows as thev, clatteral on tho'-pave-mcnt, and ' tho spectators swept biujk like a v roccding wave as ithe heat becamo unbearable.r-; ■' A BUILDINC., FRONT FALLS, . •In breathless suspense. the crowd waited for the: front- of tho building to fall in, for it could bo easily. Been that this must.be a .matter, .qf-.only '.a- few,',-minutes.',,, Presently', it was .seen to tilt inward, and next moment crashcd into tho "flames with a deafening, roport. . Meanwhile the firemen, seoingithat any attempt to quell the flames on tho east ■side of the right-of-way by Hallenstein's was futile, were ' strenuously devoting all their cfforts\to save tho blpok>of buildings 'on tho west side,: Two ladders .wore placed in. position, one .against- Clifford's and. 1 the , other, against Bcatli and Co.'s,, and soon after a i;torrent of water was boing poured 011 those : anothor hose also boing played on 1 thpado wall.. .1.1 ... 1.-" The .fire,imaging: furiously at the back of tho White Hart, menaced the roar of the ■ Bank ■:of- rafter, tho D.1.C., 011 the west, side, had been, annihilated, /a; small shed at the roar of tho -'Bank--1 .was 1 ignited, and'there seemed to be a very present danger to r the'-Bank.,- However, ibe | flames .were,beaten, and'"the Bank saved.