BLAZING HONEY

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1932, Page 8

BLAZING HONEY

0 FIFTY TONS DESTROYED. LONDON, July 15. After the fire at Messrs. C. and E. Morton’s wharf, where fifty tons of packed honey was destroyed, arrangements were immediately made to set up a temporary blending and packing plant. Engineers and others set to work with a will, with the result that bottling began again two days ago. This was a remarkable achievement on the part of the London representatives of the Honey Producers’ Board. The section of Morton’s wharf where the honey was packed was a wing of the building, and it was separated from the main building by an iron wall. It happened that all the bulk honey was inside the maip building, and was protected from the flames by the iron wall. Perhaps it is fortunate that this honey is available at the present time, but if there had been any choice in the matter it would have been much more convenient to have lost the bulk and saved the packed honey, and the recentlyinstalled packing plant. Some- fifty tons of packed honey was destroyed, and with it all the printed labels and advertising material. Apart from the building, the damage is estimated at between £lO,OOO and £ll,OOO. Among the property destroyed were a number cl automatic electrically-propelled figures which are a feature of the board’s advertising, and which were just ready for distribution. They had been pur chased from Germany—the only cour. try which can manufacture them—before the 15 per cent, duties were imposed. It will take three weeks before the printed material can be replaced.

Limited stocks of packed honey wore available in depots in various parts of the country, and these were drawn on to supply the immediate needs of retailors. Now, with the temporary plant in operation, it is hoped that no damage will have- been done to the good-will of the produce, and that it. will not be necessary to turn down any orders. It wdl be three months before the depot is re-erected and refitted. A FURIOUS FIRE. The fire broke out soon after four in the morning, and in a very short time the honey was blazing furiously, making a. wall of fire on the water’s edge. Firemen went from both sides of the river, and two fire-floats were brought into use, one from as far away as Blackfrairs. On the floats,

on barges moored in the river, on the precarious edges, of walls, firemen formed a ring round the whole building, concentrating on preventing the fire spreading. A pierman on the West India Docksaid that within a minute or two of the fire starting the whole of the wing was blazing. At the height of the blaze firemen were at every possible point pouring water on to the flaming honey. The roof crashed in, and as soon as they could get near enough the firemen with gas masks and axes broke down burning wooden beams. It was y thrilling sight for the first few hours before the firemen began to get control. So great was the heat that a safe in the depot Vas not able to protect its- contents, and packing records covering many years were so scorched as to be unreadable. Mr J. R. Rutland, Government representative on the Honey Board, arrived in England in May to make an inquiry into the methods of marketing and distribution. He had practically completed his investigation when the fire brought about a new set of circumstances. Next week he will go to .the Continent with Mr H. W. Castle the London representative. They will visit Germany, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, and Denmark, their object being to inquire into possible markets for the disposal of bulk honey. Hitherto, New Zealand bulk honey has not been sold on the Continent, but lately the bulk surplus has increased, and it ’s necessary to find new outlets.