THE WATERLOO QUAY FIRE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3331, 13 January 1898, Page 3

THE WATERLOO QUAY FIRE.

THE DAMAGE AND INSURANCES.

Hundreds of persons visited the scene of the fire on Waterloo quay yesterday, and caused the seaside thoroughfare to show much more animation than it usually does. All day long the sight-seers, facing the north-west gale, made their way to the spot were the ruins wore still smouldering, Men of the Municipal Fire Brigade were playing water on the burning heaps of deiris during the day. Before doing this they had to remove a large number of sheets of corrugated iron. The buildings destroyed were constructed with iron sides, with wood lining. This style of construction gave the firemen a great deal of trouble, for, though fire quickly finds its way through galvanised iron, water does not. Inspection of the remains of Mr T. C. Williams’ big building—the one used as a boardinghouse shows that, while the woodwork inside has been on fire, the iron outer walls’" 1 stood, and turned the water that would otherwise have sooner checked the progress of the flames. It was learnt yesterday that several of the firemen were more or less severely scorched, and so in oof them had their uniforms burnt, in consequence fif ti}.e great heat of the fire. , The insurances on Mr W. Chalmers cooperage were £BOO on the building and ,£IO3O on the machinery and contents, both in the Palatine Insurance Company. The insurances do not cover the Mr MoArdle had an insurance of £340 in the Standard Insurance Company on his horses, harness and fodder. He lost three carts and a lorry, none of which were insured. Mr T. C. Williams’ big building (King’s ‘was insured for £BOO in the Victoria Insurance Company, and for £4OO in the Liverpool, London and Globe. His smaller building (MoArdle’s stables) was insured for £3OO in the Victoria Insurance Company. There are reinsurances of a portion of Mr Williams policies. There was no insurance on the. contents of the boardinghouse. Mr Chalmers, in conversation with a Times reporter, said he first heard of the fire on the Pliramerton railway station yesterday morning. An attempt was ma do to communicate with him by telephone while the fire was burning, but it ended in failure. Mr Chalmers valued his cooperage at from £IOOO to £I2OO, and his machinery at about £2200, after allowing for depreciation. Nearly all the machinery was of a special character. _ A headrpunding machine alone cost £2so* There was probably no cooperage in Australasia with a. better plant.- Three engines were used, one of 20 horsepower, another of eight horse-power, and a third, used to drive a dynamo, of five horse-power. The establishment was lighted by electricity; no naked lights were permitted or used. Some pf the hands were working on Tuesday night till about half-past 9 o’clock. The dynamo stopped running at that time. One of the men always slept on the premises, over the stable. Ho had charge of the premises when everyone also had left. It was his practice’ to go ''round the place thrioa every night—after tea, at about 9 o’clock and before he went to bed. On Tuesday night he made the rounds at twenty minutes to 11 o’clock, over an hour after work had ceased. There was then no sign of fire. Mr Chalmers is satisfied, Jrom what he has heard from persons who saw the fire at an early stage, that it commenced in a stack of timber on the . western or Government Bail way Station side of his yard. .Ho mentions that he has frequehtly complained that parsons are allowed to trespass in the Railway Station yard at all.hours; also that there is a lack of police inspection on Waterloo quay.’ The cnly thing in the way of plant left standing is the boiler, with its casting of brick. This was valued at £250; but it baa not yet been inspected to ascertain how it has been affected by the fire. Had the fire occurred a little later'Mr Chalmers’ loss would have been even greater, as he has. a saw which cost £4OO coming in the Teutonia from New York. He also has a large consignment of nails on the water. When the safe,-an expensive one of foreign make, was opened yesterday, it was found that the papers in it were charred, but that the ledger was all right. The fire destroyed half a million feet of timber, and ruined 30 or 40 tons of hoopiron, and three or four tons of nails, in addition to destroying the cooperage and machinery. The cooperage was three stories high at the back, and two stories high on the side nearest the quay. Mr Chalmers has nearly three-quarters of b, million feet of timber saved, most of it in what is known as his lower yard, which is away from the scene of the fire. He expects to start the making of casks by hand in the lower yard- in the course of the next few days. It is pleasing to be able to 1 state that his principal clients have extended consideration to him in his misfortune, on the condition that he resumes operations as soon as possible. The extent of his cooperage is indicated by the fact that it gave employment to 42 hands. He could turn out about 5000 casks a month. Eecently he fulfilled an order for 2000 meat cases for the Gear Meat Preserving Company in three days. At the same time he was making largely for the Wellington Meat Export Company. When the fire came he bad in hand contracts for the supply of about-5000 casks for various meat works in Australia. These contracts, of course, have had to be cancelled. . Whilst the fire was raging, the electric lighting authorities out off the connections in that°part of the city, in order that the brigadesmen should not be endangered in their work of fighting the flames. This was a wise precaution, but one result of it was that the Telephone Exchange was left in total darkness. As invariably happens when a firebell is heard, numbers of people rang up the Exchange to enquire the locality of the fire; but as the attendant could not see the falling shutters, he was for some time quite unable to answer any of the appeals, though in a few moments he made some attempt to do so w’th the aid of a couple of candles. The intense heat of the fire destroyed some of the telephone lines in the street, and yesterday workmen were employed restoring the circuits. . ■ , . Mention must be made of the good work done by the police on the night of the fire. There wars seven or eight present in all and they worked hard throughout. The 13 horses belonging to Mr A. MoArdle were liberated after a considerable amount of trouble by Constables McLeod and Murphy, the last animal being turned into the yard as the flames broke through into the back of the stable. A number of civilians assisted .in getting the horses clear of the premises. Tho services rendered by Harbour Board employees at the Waterloo quay fire on Tuesday night should not be allowed to pass without mention. A reel from the Queen’s Wharf, and another from the Railway Wharf, both fully manned, were very early on the scene; and the hose was used right through the fire. We understand that Mr Campbell, the nightwatchman. was one of the first to see the fire which destroyed Messrs Chalmers and King’s premises. Ha gave warning to Mr King, and assisted to liberate the horses from Mr McArdle’s stables.

At the last Canning Park (VV.A.) meeting place totalisators were run on each event. In one event one of the placed horses paid .£ls for 10s. The second and third horses paid splendidly in the other races, the dividends being better, proportionately, than were paid on the winners.