FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21295, 23 September 1932, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO

EXTRACTS FROM THE HERALD GREAT FIRE IN SYDNEY The following are. extracts from the New Zealand Herald of September 23, 1882: — The Sydney Garden Palace, m the Inner Domain, in which the New South Wales International Exhibition of 1879 was held, has been totally destroyed by fire. The conflagration broke out at 5 o'clock this morning and was still raging at 9 a.m. The sight of the b urn ' ing building is grand, and thousands of people are now on the spot. All efforts to save the palace have been without avail, and nothing can prevent its complete destruction. The offices in ui® occupation of a branch of the Lands ™ e " partment, the Census office, and the Harbour offices were in the building, and it is feared there will be a serious loss of official documents and other Government property. A later message states that, all the archives of the Mining Department, th? Census officers, and the Linnaeon Society, together with the national collection of minerals in the Technological Museum, have been destroyed. The estimated los* ' in all amounts to half a million sterling. The dome of the building fell with a crash 20 minutes bfter the fire broke out. The destruction is>complete. The art collection in the GardeiV Palace was insured for £3OOO. This utas the only in surance on the building or contents. Six boxes of telephones arrived here pd City of Sydney on Sunday last, con signed to the Telegraphic Department. Wellington, and were shipped south on Thursday. We understand that there are no fewer than 20 instruments applied for ■ in but the authorities here cannot supply them until they have been first sent to Wellington, so as to be put together. This arrangement seems not only absurd, as they could be fitted in Auckland quite as well as in Wellington, but also injudicious, seeing that a great deal of unnecessary expense in the shape of freight and cartage has to be paid for their carriage to and from Wellington.