SEEING THE FIRE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 11

SEEING THE FIRE

YOUNG MEN, ARRIVE TOO

LATE

When the worst of the fire was over on Tuesday night, or early on Wednesday morning, the Superintendent of the Wellington Fire Brigade (Mr. C. A. Woolley) decided that the time had arrived for a bath and a change of clothes. He felt that he had it, and -people who watched the strenuous efforts of the brigade under his command to confine the outbreak to a limited area will agree with him Accordingly, he returned to his head-j quarters in Clyde Quay. But that did not mean that his work was over. Havirig bathed and changed, Mr. Woolley returned to the scene of the fire. Somewhere about -3 a.m. he was standing in Willis Street when he noticed three men, obviously in a hurry, running excitedly through Chews Lane. He.was interested, not in the three men particularly, but in the cause of their excitement. Had the fire broken out afresh? He decided to inquire. "What's all the excitement about?" he asked. One of the party proffered the information that there had been a fire. Mr. Woolley did not resort to vulgarisms such as "Yeah?" or "You're tellin' me," out he politely agreed that the evidence suggested that such was the case. But he was still curious about the cause of the belated excitement. The fire, he 'said, was just about out. • "Out?" said one of the' party. "My, that's tough. We've just arrived to have a. look at it." "A bit late, aren't you?" said Mr. Woolley. "What part of Wellington do you come from?" "Wellington?" was the answer. "We don't come from Wellington; we come from Palmerston North!" The three young men had heard a broadcast account of the blaze, and had set out by car to have a look. Thanks to the good work of the brigade, they arrived too late to see very much.

Part of the basement of Victoria House, which was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, was occupied by J. H. Newson and Co., indent agents. This firm had in the basement raw manufacturing materials and industrial machinery to the value of £12,000, all of which has been lost.

Progress Motors, Ltd., state that the insurance on their building is £22,000, not £8000 as was stated in "The Post" last evening.