A FIRE IN MELBOURNE

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14933, 5 March 1912, Page 7

A FIRE IN MELBOURNE

ESTIMATE OF DAMAGE £40,000. A GOOD "SAVE" BY BRIGADE. By Tcl*jrrsph.— A»eocUtion.— Copyright (Received March 4, 10.55 p.m.) Melbourne, March 4. By a fire •which broke out to-day, Messrs. Briscoe and Company's ironmongery establishment, in Little Collins-street, was practically destroyed. The Stock Exchange, the Safe Deposit Company's premises, the English, Scottish and Australian Bank, the Bank of New South Wales, and Collings House were damaged. Briscoe's three-storey building was erected only six months' ago. The front part, was separated from the rear, where the fire started, by fireproof doors, and escaped the flames, though the immense stock was damaged by water. The firemen made a splendid " save," the building being in the centre of a packed mass of buildings. The flames were got under in three hours. , Burning debris, carried to adjoining buildings, started a fire in the Bank of New South Wales, but it was soon subdued. The other buildings mentioned, besides Montgomery's cork warehouse and a number of smaller business premises suffered by heat and water. The collapse of Briscoe's wall damaged the Bank of New South Wales. Briscoe « business will not be seriously inconvenienced, as the company has another large store in West Melbourne. One estimate of the damage is £40.000. The cause of the fire is not known.