A BRILLIANT CONFLAGRATION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 145, 21 June 1913, Page 7

A BRILLIANT CONFLAGRATION.

AUCKLAND, June 20. Kempthorne, Prosser and Go's extensive chemical manure works at Westfield were destroyed by fire early this morning. The men employed on the night shift had left the works for supper, anct five minutes afterwards the building was seen to be enveloped in flames. The building contained a valuable plant and valuable stock. The cause of the fire is a mystery. Later.

The fire at Westfield made a brilliant spectacle. The conflagration was at its height between 2 and 3 a.m. The roof fell in with a succession of crashes, and the sound of falling beams, machinery, etc., came frequently from within. Several railway trucks" standing on a siding caught fire. They were filled with manure. Little could be done to save them, and they were destroyed. An. alarming development was the extension of the fire to the tallow vats of Hellaby's, Ltd., the adjoining manure works. The vat structure gave way, and a big volume of hot liquid tallow inundated the vicinity and poured freely down the railway line.. Hellabv's lass was £1000.

The buildings destroyedl covered' two acres. The insurances total £15,300. The- buildings were insured in the Union Assurance Office for £1000, in the Ocean for £1000, in the Commercial Union, for £2500, in the National for £500, in the South British for £2000, in the Standard for £750, in Lloyd's for £3800. in the New Zealand* for £1500, and in the Northern Office for £2250.