DAMAGE £150,000.

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 85, 25 January 1887, Page 3

DAMAGE £150,000.

FOUR MEN BURIED ALIVE

(united prkss association )

Don'EDIN, January 24,

Shortly after one o'clock this afternoon a fire which assumed very large proportions broke out in the large I factory of the Dunedin Iron and Woodware Company. The fire appears to have broken out close to the engine house, and spreading rapidly through the high inflammable material in the faetorv. There was a tremendous crowd present, and as the alarm of powder being on the premises was raised, they were running about wildly although never interfering with the work. There was a considerable quantity of cartridges in the building, and these could be heard popping off in a regular f usilade, but the roar of fire and falling roofs and walls almost drowned it. Two or three heavy explosions of powder took place, but did no damage.

It is almost certain that loss of life has occurred. When the staircase at the back of the furniture department fell there were a number of people in the building, and at least four of them were penned by the falling debris, and it has been found impossible to get them out.