GREAT FIRE AT DUNEDIN.

Evening Post, Volume XX, Issue 285, 6 December 1880, Page 2

GRE AT FIRE AT DUNEDIN.

? DESTRUCTION OF THE TRAMWAY STATION AND PLANT. DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT £21,000. SUPPOSED INCENDIARISM. |UNITKD PRESS ASSOCIATION.! Dunedin, sth' December.

One of the most disastrous fires ever occurring in Dunedin broke out about four this morning in the large wooden building on the reclaimed land, used as engine and tramway shed by Mr. David Proudfoot. It is not known how the firo originated. Sever, men were on the premises at the tinio engaged in cleaning an engine, but so quickly did the flames spread that they had barely time to escape. The building has been completely destroyed, also thirty-three tram-cars, seven engines, and a tremendous quantity of oats. The insurances were : — New Zealand, .£2000; Victoria,, -£1500: Standard, X5OO ; Norwich Union, ,£1000 ; London and Lancashire, .£1000; Transatlantic .£1000; Australian Alliance, .£500; National, ,£1000; Hamburg, .£lOOO. Total, .£12,000. It is almost certain that the fire is a case of incendiarism. The amounts above named were obtained from the insurance agents, but Mr. Proudfoot says he is insured for .£14,000. He estimates his loss at ,£7OOO above this, without reckoning the losb which must ensue from suspension of traffic. Only three cars are left. A c.blo message will be sent to America to-morrow for others. More are on the way here, and every effort will bo mode to keep up the traffic. LATEST PABTICULABS. Dunedin, This Dat. The building in which the fire broke out is not without a history. In it a congregation of the First Church assembled for worship when it stood in Dowliug-str&et, When the new church was erected the old wooden ono passed into the hands of Sargood and Co , and wub used by them as a boot factory, subsequently it became the property of Proudfoot, and was removod to the Reclaimed Land, at tho rear of the Dunedin railway. The building was 170 feet in length and 70 feet in width. The floor was not boarded, and was intersected by five lengths of rails, on ono of which the engines were placed when not at work, ana the other lines were dovotrd to carriages, somo of which used to bo placed on thorn nightly. Frequently many of tho carriugos Were left outside at night, but thin was not so on Saturday, as, owing probably to the inclemency of the weather, tho wholo of tho carriages, to the number of 38, were, with four exceptions, in tho building, and exclusive of the ironwork, not a vestige romains. Of tho four not deatroyod, two were at Ocean Beach, and the others stood just outsido the entranca to the building. Thest) two were muoh damaged, but can bo repaired without difficulty. Tho only two yesterday available for traffic, and tho result was that the street had quite an unusual appearance. Seven engines Wore rendered quite useless. Some of the carriages had nevor boon used, and others had lately boon repaired at considerable expense. There has been two men employed nightly in the shed, one as engine fitter, arid the other as carriage cleaner. Both of thosa were following their ordinary avocation* on Saturday night, having gone to tho workshop at half-past ten o'olook, and wore in the building when tho firo took place. At about 2.30 a.m., tho cleaner says, while ho was working in a carriage* near the engine-room, ho hoard tho door of ouo of tho cars close. He asked his mate, who was with him P The latter replied that ho did not know, and having made a search could boo no one. Shortly afterwards the two went into a carriage to take their lunch, and aftor they had been doing so for somo time, they saw the glare of fire and the shed full of smoke. They immediately left the carriage, but found they could not got out the front way, and had to mako their escape by tho windows at the northern end of tho building. One gavo the alarm and the other remained at the fire. There seems to bo no doubt it originated at the southern end of the shod, which was accessible to any outsido person. As the building was an old ono, and the cars very combustible, the flames were rapidly carried from ono ond of tho building to the other, and the entire property was quickly burnt down. About JBSOO worth of contractor' plant was destroyed, and in addition to this Proudfoot's electric light machinery, which cost .£520. Mr. Froudfoot has given instructions for the manufacture of tomporary cirß in Dunedin, and has cabled to America for cars similar to those burnt. He intends to secure in the meantime tho cars obtainable in Now Zealand or the colonies. Tho Insurance Companies meet te-day, to consider the advisability of offering a reward for the discovery of the incendiary. Corrected insurances on stock and plant » — Proudsfoot's property: Northern, .£2500; New Zealand. Victorian, .£1500; Transatlantic, .£1000; National, ifilOOO; Hamburg-Madgeburg, .£1000 ; South British, iJlOOO; A'orwich Union, .£1000; Australian Alliance, Standard, .£5OO. On the building: Northern, .£500; Transatlantic, .£500; Hamburg, £500. On the oats « Northern, .£3OO.