TWO FIRES IN THE CITY.

Evening Star, Issue 12208, 28 May 1904, Page 8

TWO FIRES IN THE CITY.

SERIOUS DAMAGE IN HIGH STREET. The Fire Brigade were called bv telephone at 6.57 p.m. yesterday to the premises of Messrs Brace, Windle, Blythe, and, Co., wholesale saddlers and saddlers' ironmongers, High street, a passer-by having discovered the place to be on fire. " Nothing occurred to delay Captain Mitchell and his men, and they 'made a quick trip to tha Grand Hotel corner, where the horses slipped and fell on the asphalt, and as the pole chairs broke, the ladder carriage was drawn by the men up the hill, not more than a couple of minutes beius; lost by the accident. The firemen found .i 1.-fge body of fire at the back of the building level with the street. The flames had reached thfl monkey platform used for storage purposes m the centre of the store, and were jus* gripping the wood-lined roof. Knowing the character of the stock, and being aware that a lot of goods damageable bv water lay in the basement. Captain Mitchell took special pains to avoid flooding the building. He took a hose through a back window, Tave a wipe or two with the branch against Ihe ceiling, thus reducing the bhze at once by the combined effects of water, force, and windage, and then relied on a small handpump to break down the fire in detail. It wj's a capital job on the part of the firemen. Jlionsh the entire roof was scorched or blackened, and the fire had a firm hold of a large portion of the stock, onlv a small lob of the goodb was actually destroyed, ai.-i the danger of a general loss was averted within a few minutes of getting to work, whilst, the loss by water was"" kept to a minimum. Mr C. D. S. Moore, the manager, warmly praises the Fire Brigade's judgment and ex-pert work generally. Afc the same time the damase amounts to a considerable sum. Much/of the stock of horse-covers, felt, harness, etc.. is spoiled for wholesale trade purposes, and at a rough sniess the damage is put down' at between £I.OOO and £2.000. As, however, the firm have a large reserve stock, thev will ba able to carry on business without interruption. The headquarters of the house are at Walsall (Staffordshire), where an important export and manufarturin<: business is conducted, and the branches at Brisbane. Auckland, and Dunedin are alwava well stocked. Mr Moore is- quite unable to account for the outbreak. The fire obviously started in a cupboard where leagings were stored. A boy was at that cupboard, putting leggings away, at 2.15 in the afternoon, but he needed neither candle nor match to work by, and no fire was used en the premises during the dav excepting in the two office prates at the front of Ihe building, far away from the scene of tha outbreak. Mr Moore adds that he left it 5.45 p.m., by which time all the hands wore away. The building is the property of the administrators of the late Mr Charles Moore. It is insured for £I.OOO with th« Victoria Company. The damage to th< budding is not very serious. The stock is insured for £9,000, distributed over th« following offices:—New Zealand, £2,000; Alliance, Standard, Commercial Union, Royal, Victoria, and Northern, £I,OOO each ; and National and South British, £SOO eaeh. A SMALL FIRE IN A FOUNDRY. At 9.10 p.m. the City Brigade were called out again, but this time their duties were light The night watchman at Sparrow's Foundry in Lower Rattray street gave tha alarm. It appears that a big arc electric le.mp m the blacksmith's shop fell through, toe wire fusing. The onlv damage was tho breaking of the lamp and the charring of the upright that carried the electric wire.