DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT MESSRS BROADWOOD'S PIANOFORTE MANUFACTORY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 426, 3 December 1856, Page 4

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT MESSRS BROADWOOD'S PIANOFORTE MANUFACTORY.

A most destructive fire broke out in the evening of the 'I2th~ August in the extensive . premises of the Messrs. Broadwttod, the cele- ,, l-rated piano manufacturers, situated Sn the ] llorseferry road, Westminster, , The premises consisted of five distinct ranges of buildings three stories high, running parallel with each ■other, and embracing-, shops for every department of the manufacture. At 6 o'clock 420 workmen left the various shops in the establislnuent, and in little more than half an hour

after the workmen had left } smoke was observed issuing from the upper-.floor of the central ,ran<<e of buildings, irnia^diataly beneath the tilojk tower. An a'arm was instantly given, . and several engines were quickly on the spot. As is too frequently the eas;el .there was at first a scarcity of water, and the most strenuous exertions of all present faUed to make the slightest itnpi-ession upon, the flames, which, Le.'ore 7 o'clock, had wrapped in one burning m-iss the whole range in which the iire had .originated. The peculiar construction of the immense workshops—bnilt to obtain the best possible Ji;:lit, and consisting of distinct floors several hundred feet lon* without a break of any kind -—rendered them an-easy prey to the flames, ,aud iv less than an. hour the fire had obtained

so terrible a mastery that very little hope existed from that time of saving any portion of the establishment. The intense heat of the central building very soon, ignited the adjoining ranges on each side, though from 20 to 30 feet of space separated the one from the other, and before 1 o'clock a body of flame of-almost unexampled extent rose high into the air, setting out in bold relief the.fine architectural outlines of the new palace and the venerable abbey, and attracting to the" bridges and .other elevated points of view thousands of spectators. Into the interior of the shops very shortly after the outbreak it was impossible to enter, and it was lamentable to observe the workmen looking on. —their eyes suffused with tears—at the destruction of their valuable tools and materials without the smallest chance of rescuing them. Four out of the five ranges of shopsrwere wholly destroyed. The fifth was saved by the, communication being cut off by the employment of a large number of men with pickaxes and other implements. Nearly 1000 pianofortes, in various stages of manufacture, have been utterly lost, and the value of the woods and other materials destroyed amounts to au immense sum. Five shillings per square foot for veneers' used by Messrs. Broadwood is not at all an extravagant price, and from this some notion may be formed of the loss that will be occasioned by the fire. - The tools of a single first-class workman may Ibe estimated at £70. The fire was not got under till about 10 o'clock, but the engines continued to pour an immense volume of water upon the ruins throughout the night. Messrs. Broadwood's loss is estimated at upwards of £100,000. - It appears, from subsequent inquiries, that the outbreak occuvred in the close vicinity of one of the stoves, in which there had been a fire during the afternoon. These can be little doubt, therefore, that notwithstanding the precautions taken, a spark must have fallen beyond the iron framework in which the" fire is encased, and that thus the disaster originated. Fortunately, the Messrs.[Broadwood have another large factory in Pulteney-street, Golden-square, where the business was originally established, which, with the premises still standing in Horse-ferry-road, and other conveniences, will enable the firm to carry on their«business without interruption. By special report we learn that, in addition to the injury done to the Messrs. BToadwood's premises, 10 houses on the west fcide'of Holywellstreet have also been seriously damaged. Had a sufficient supply of water been ready when the first fire broke out, it is believed that the damage would;! have been very inconsiderable. It appears that Messrs. Broadwood had' entered into a contract with the Chelsea Waterworks Company to have a supply of water charged in their fire mains every evening at 6 o'clock; hut on the present occasion, although only one of the mains was! put into requisition, the supply of water unfortunately | failed after a discharge of a few minutes. " This ' statement, however, lias since been contradicted by the Chelsea Company, who state that the mains were fully charged at the time of the outbreak of the fire.

"On Sunday, Aug. 10, the Right Rev. Dr. Henry J. C. Harper, who has been appointed Bishop of Christ Church, New Zealand, was consecrated in the Private Chapel of Lambeth Palace. The new Bishop of Gloucester was also consecrated at the same time. At eleven o'clock the Archbishop of''Canterbury entered the chapel, and was followed by the Bishops of Winchester, Chichester, and Oxford, the Bishops elect, Dr. Travers Twiss, - the Vicar-General; Dr. Robert Phillimore, M.P.; Dr. Shepherd, Mr. Francis Hart Dyke, her Majesty's Proctor; Mr, James Barber, the Apparator; the Rev. J. Hampden Gurney, M.A., Rector of St. Mary's, Bryanston-square, the preacher of the day, and other officials. Prayers were read by the Rev. John Thomas, 8.C.L., the Archbishop's Chaplain ; after which his Grace read the Consecration Service, and the Bishops elect, vested in their rochets, were presented to the Primate by the Bishops" of Winchester and Oxford. The diocese of Christ Church comprises that portion of the middle island of New, Zea-land which lies to the southward of a geographical line drawn across the middle island, at the northern boundary of the territory set apart for the Canterbury settlement, together with the southern island of New Zealand, the Auckland Isles, and all adjacent islands lying to the southward of the 43rd degree 5 minutes of south latitude. Bishop

Harper will leave England in thT^TofTe present month m the Bgmont,^ of Messrs