AUCKLAND FIRE ATTRACTS CROWDS OF ONLOOKERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 September 1949, Page 4

AUCKLAND FIRE ATTRACTS CROWDS OF ONLOOKERS

AUCKLAND, This Day (P.A.).— Five thousard people or more crowded the city streets around Customs Street west after nine o’clock last night while ire destroyed the top floor storeroom of a building owned by the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agenjy Co. Ltd., in Fanshawe street.

Squads of* uniformed police from waterfront police stations kept Fanshawe and Lower Albert streets clear for the fire-fghters, while City Council traffic inspectors controlled hundreds of motorists, who threatened to block access for the brigades. Thousands of Friday night shoppers, many carrying parcels and bags, watched the fire from the opposite outbreak in Lower Customs street.

The open area round about the front of the Tepid Baths was a mass of people. Lower Albert street was quickly cornered off, but hundreds of people remained behind the controlling policemen to watch a fireman directing a hose high up on the new telescopic ladder. Several trams returning to the city were turned back as fire-engines, vans and hoses blocked Fanshawe street, and the tram traffic was diverted through Queen street. Loud speakers used by traffic inspectors in patrol vans were effective in keeping the crowds back from the fire.