FLOOR POLISH ABLAZE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 304, 23 November 1937, Page 8

FLOOR POLISH ABLAZE.

Per Press Association. AUCKLAND Nov. 22. Extensive damage to tile structure and contents of an old two-s’toried wooden building in Wellington Place, off Wellington Street, was caused when a quantity of floor polish became alight. The fire quickly spread throughout the building and, because of the nature of the stocks on the premises, a considerable period elapsed before the brigade could get the flames under control. The fire started on the ground floor in quarters occupied by Easton Products, Ltd., manufacturers of cleaners and disinfectants. Floor polish containing a large turpentine, content was being drawn from a 90-gallon boilei when it became ignited through close proximity to a gas jet. The blazing polish spread over the concrete floor, and, though an effort was made to extinguish it with sacks, the liquid reached the wooden walls and various articles in the room, immediately setting them alight. As the timbers of the building were old and the stock consisted largely of methylated spirits, turpentine, wax, and other inflammable matter used in the manufacture of cleansers, the fire soon had a strong hold, minor explosions of containers punctuating its advance. Flames leaping from the roof and a dense column of pungent, black smoke attracted hundreds of spectators who crowded in ‘adjacent lanes and backvir{ls. According to Mr G. Easton, principal of Easton Products, Ltd., the stocks on the premises were valued at £ISOO. The occupants of the upper stories were a bag merchant and a tyre dealer. A number of tyres and a quantity of other rubber material were saved, but a portion of the floor collapsed and it was difficult to estimate the full extent of the damage. The building was part of tho Hanley estate.