TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 3108, 29 December 1921, Page 2

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

SIX SHOPS SET A L.w-i i SENSATION IN SYDNEY. Details of ihe terrific explosion in a shop of the Universal Eilm ( onipany, Park street, between Pitt and George streets, | Sydney, on the afternoon of November 19, are contained in Australian files to hand. I The result, of the explosion was that six shops were soon on lire. Jl was so great that, several people who were in places close by fainted. Two men were seriously injnred, and one woman was injured and had to be taken to the Sydney Hospital. The tar in the street for fully 100 ft was burnt. Many windows were shattered. -Murdoch’s. Palmer's and Davis's shops on the other side of the street were damaged. The names of those injured were: Harry McGuire, burns to the face and arms; Henry Howard, bruises; liarbara Spears, injuries to the legs and feel. The police state that they were in shops which caught alight. There was a sensation in Ihe city when the explosion was heard. People rushed from the Criterion Theatre close by. I here were thousands in the streets in a lew minutes, hut they were kept back in Pin and George streets. . The explosion is said to have taken place in the Universal Film Company s building. _\o. 13 I’ark street. On the Pitt street side of the Film Company there is the Golden Shell Refreshment Rooms, which were blown away at the back, and t lit* top floor was .soon alight. The roof of ihe Film Company was nearly lilted olf with the explosion. . 1 Next door on the George street side is a hairdresser’s shop, then comes the Womerah Wine Far, Sydney Dainty Sandwiches Cmnjiany, and the shop of Mr Crimmim;, tailor. These places are of two storeys. The report of the explosion was tremendous. PEOPLE FEAR EARTHQUAKE. People ill the vicinity ran to the street.', thinking there was an earthquake. I he tbitries bnr;t forth from the budding and reached the shops on the other side of the road. Soon all the tar on the street:. vv.i.alighl. , . . . As soon as the alarm was given ( met ( jfiieer Sparks, Depniy-t tliieer Jackson, and firemen and engines from the city and suburbs rushed to the scene. At great t i-k the firemen taekleo their stupendous job. Not knowing whether there were any more materials of an explosive nailing they rushed into the burning building wilh Hoses. In an incredibly short time, 2b siiearns o. water were being played on to I util dings, b lie flames were conquered at- 4.30, hall an hour alter the outbreak. Ef.AMES At ROSS ROAD. Nearly all Murdoch's top window* were broken by the lorce of the ' \p!o>iiy:. Ihe woodwork of ihe simp was set on lire and (he iron work shows where the lire travelled along when the Humes shot fully 50ft: across the road. The windows in front of Palmers, next door to Murdoch’s, and m Davis s shop were also broken. There fortunately no people in the street at the nine ot the explosion. Mabel Anderson, a young woman, who was m Pin street, near Park street, staled lo Inspector Long, who was soon on the rcetie with about 43 policemen: T thought the end of the world had ’■-■me." She almost, collapsed with tear. “At the sound of the explosion i looked around." she continued, “and u was a mo.-i extraordinary sight to see people rushing hum shops, 'ihe flames were a.toss tin* sheet, and ihe tar was alight. I here was the noise ol the crashing ol the windows." There were sevenil pm'sens ::i the Par (.I the ('oronotti ion Hotel, which is on the same side of id a- ill’ Top in which the explosion occiir i'll, t b' barm mis were nearly paiaiyed w:'b ’ ■ M customers ran Io the sheel. .1 : 1 tac • '<plo-

sion and its devastating effects can bo realised when within a few seconds six shops and the rooms above them were burning fiercely. GIRL JUMPS 15 FEET. liarbara Spears, who was in one of the, rooms over a shop, dashed on lo tho verandah and jumped 15ft lo (he ground in the burning !ar. Harry -McGuire and Henry Howard, who wen; also in the .shop’, ran lo flu’ si reel, and had to contend wilh lire from the burning street, but they managed lo gel through. The injured were quickly wrapped up and hurried lo the Sydney Hospital. Two cal ■ were severely burnt,_ and died | M ,in ihe el fee Is of I heir injuries. Their wailing before dealli wen' pitiful. The "locality has been unfortunate in respect to explosions and lire. On a Saturday afternoon about eight years ago, there was an explosion in a Him exchange over the chemist’s shop at the corner qt Fill, and Park streets, opposite the Criterion Theatre. Several rooms were destroyed. Some people who were on the l op of the building vvcio cut olf by the (lames, and men and women had to make their escape over the roofs of ihe shops dose by and reached the street by way of the stairways at the Farley .Mow Hotel.'