TERRIBLE FIRE

Otago Witness, Issue 801, 6 April 1867, Page 3

TERRIBLE FIRE

IN PRINCES STREET.

(From the Daily Times, April 2 )

Dunedin was, on Monday night, afflicted -with tbe most terrible fire that has yet occured within its bounds. For the first time, both sides of a street were simultaneously blazing fiercely. A whole block of buildings, on one «ide of Princes- street — including the Criterion and the Octagon Hotels, and the Theatre Royal — has been wiped out of existence by flame : on the other side, all that wast accessible has disappeared, except the South Australian Hotel: and it v;as rather by a merciful good fortune than by anything it was possible to do, that the "fire did not extend across Moray Place to the Glasgow Arms Hotel, on one side, and to the shop of Messrs Parke and Curie, ironmongers, on the other, and so, in double column, march through the Cutting to the very heart of the city.

Whether or not the actual money- loss by last night's destruction of property will prove to exceed that caused by the Stafford street fire, in January 1864, we cannot now pretend to suggest; but we are sure that a greater extent of ground has now been, covered- with ruins, and that the consequences of the fire will be more widely felt than has ever before been the case here.

We f.el so strongly on one point, that we must refer to it, before describing the conflagration which has now to be lamented. JNb long immunity from great conflagrations—no difficulties that may be sugigestible as arising from the existing state of the law — ought to be held as an excuse if the next session of the General Assembly is allowed to pass without steps being taken to eßable some authority in each town in the Colony to direct the pulling dowu of buildings when a fire is raging, and to hold that authority harmless from action for damages in any conceivable 6hape. The question may be a difficult one to deal with; but it is something horribly ludicrous, that the Fire Brigade, the police, and the other authorities, should be hand- tied, for the want of authority, and the consequent liability to pecuniary damage?, when all human probability is declaring that by pulling down or blowing up same building, which must be burned if not otherwise destroyed, a large amount of other property may le saved. The matter should be discussed at once. Last n : ght, when the chances were less than a "toss-up" in favor of the flames exf ending across Moray Place, the certainty was that such a spread could have been prevented by using one of the Armstrong guns, with blank cartridge, against the Criterion Hotel, in its then half- burned state. Down in the Octagon — where the Brigade could not get, because the danger was enormously greater ou the other side of tbe fire — several buildings were burned slowly down, which might now have been safe if one there had been levelled before the flames reached 'it. There wer? those who were ready to undertake both the works we have indicated; but all who were willing were paralysed. Nobody could give "authority: 1 most knew that the captain of the Fire Brigade had betn sued for pulling (?own a iouse, and that some merchants had had to pay heavily for directing the pulling down of a shanty which, if left standing, would probably have been the one link neces c arv to spread tbe Staffordstreet fire into Princes- street South.

The alarm last night was gi\ en about twenty minutes before eleven o'clock. •Our reporter was ia tbe Princess Theatre at the time. He walked quickly into Princes street; and when he got to the shop of Mr G. Willson, ironmonger, there was a great body of flame rushing out of "that shop. A glance showed that a great conflagration wf,s inevitable.

Mr Willson's shop stood well towards the northerly end of the block on the ■westerly side of the street, which, having Barker's Criterion Hotel forming the corner to Moray Place, at the southerly end, had at its northerly end Harding's Octagon Hotel, forming the corner to the ■Octagon. All that line of buildings — including the Theatre Royal, Mr G. R. West's music shop, Me?srs Herbert and Jlaynes's drapery and clothing establishment Messrs Patereon and M'Leod's grocery and tea shop, and several other places of business — was in flames within an hour; and along the Octagon and Moray Place probably ten more sets of premises have been destroyed.

Oa the opposite side of Princes street, Mr Wilson's shop was about faced by the brick buildirg which is partly occupied as the South Australian Hotel, by Mr C, M. Ware, and partly by Messrs Cullen and Key. The^ site of this pile is that on which stood tbe wooden pile then known as the Provincial Engineer's Buildings, which marked the limit of destruction in that direction on the night of the great fire which commenced in a shop in the Octagon, •and destroyed Guy Bennett's Octagon

Hotel, and many other buildings. Next the South Australian Hotel is a gap, which kept the former fire from doing more than scorching severely the shop of Mr C. Begg, piano-forte and music dealer. ITow, the South Australian Hotel, being of brick, resisted the intense heat which came from the burning piles opposite ; but all the glass was smashed, and the whole hotel and premises cleared out, so imminent was the danger of ignition. Mr Begg's premises, after smoking fiercely for a while, burst into one great blaze; and then it was certain that the fire could not be stayed until the block there, including Mr W. Gregg's coffee and spice store, had been swept off, Moray Place again being the barrier over which ijae flames fortunately could not leap. We have said that almost immediately after the alarm was given, Mr Wilson's shop was pouring out great tongues of flame. Very . .speedily, the place was, veritably, glowing like a furnace; the flames being at an intense white heat. Next,, on the lower side was the Octagon Hotel, to which Mr Guy Bennett went when he was burned out of the old Octagon Hotel, at the opposite corner. The hotel and Mr Willson's shop are the property, of Mr W. Meluieb; and the tenant of the hotel has for a few months past been Mr Joseph Harding, formerly of the Union, Stafford street. That the Octagon Hotel should have escaped was a sheer impossibility. Its destruction was only effected more rapidly, by the fact that the timber yard of Messrs Jago and Co., Octagon, extended at the back of Mr Willson's shop and the hotel, and that in the yard there were piles of deal and other light timber, which very speedily ignited, and so made a fierce bonfire, close to the premises. It was when the Octagon Hotel was thoroughly ablaze, that the danger to the South Australian was greatest. By this time, too, the flames had gone in the other direction to the premises of Messrs Herbert, Haynes and Co., and Paterson and M'Leod. The fire could scarcely have been, by any possibility, more intense and fiercely raging than it now was. The bleat drove everyone back ; and goods tbat bad been thrown close to the South Australian Hotel for safety, blazed reely, and were with difficulty prevented from helping: to destroy that building. Of course,the Theatre Royal — empty and dry as it was — flashed into one huge pyrotechnisra as soon as the fire reached it. And now, while the roof of the Criterion was smoking, and there was that horrid glare from its windows which told of Fire's advance, out burst Mr Begg's premises on the other bide of tbe street. The prospects as to the limits of destruction were then, indeed, most glaringly gloomy. Between the two walls of flame, none could stay. The goods with which the road aud the footpaths were strewed smoked everywhere, and blazed in several places. The breeze, which had been at the worst but light and fitful, freshened. The flames were being blown directly towards Messrs Parke and Curie's shop, on the side of Moray Place opposite the Criterion, and against the towering gable of the three-storey wooden pile known as BeJgrave Chambers. The Glasgow Arms Hotel, on the opposite side of Princes street, was in imminent, though comparatively less, danger.

Hitherto, we think, the harried removal of furniture and stocks-in-trade had been confined to the two blocks between Moray Phze and the Octagon. Now, and naturally, it extended to the occupiers of premises in the Cutting ; and great quantities of goods were hastily pulled out, and carried or carted away. The danger of the flames crossing Moray Place could not have been greater than it was. Had the crossing been effected, we should probably have had to detail the destruction of the whole line, down to Rattray street.

But, both at Parke and Curie's and the Glasgow Arms, blankets had been hung out, and been saturated. The Brigade used with the utmost energy, every drop of water that could be got, so aa to keep the buildings as cool as possible. The wind died away. The framework of what had bsen the Criterion Hotel, topped and fell inward. And then, it was felt, a3 indeed a relief, that the limits of the fire had betn defined.

Those limits we will try to state: — The line from the Octagon to the Criterion Hotel; into Moray Place, as far as the house occupied by Mr D. Carson ; along the Octagon, as far as the higher portion of Messrs Garrett and Co.'s coach- factory. Within the irregular triangle thus indicated, several small cottages were burned; but the Criterion Stables, which were occupied by Mr Carson escaped the flame?, as did his house. On the opposite side of the street, there was continuous destruction from (and including) Mr Begg's premises to the shop and cottage of Mr G. Matthews, in Moray Place, which became ignited, but were not much damaged by fire. There were, we believe, no cottages destroyed at the back, on this side of Princes street. "We subjoin a list of the premises destroyed. We have made it as correct as possible with the aid of a directory ; but

we fear that it "will need correction tomorrow. We begin with the westerly side of Princes street, and go southward, from Mr Willson'o, into the Octagon :—: — J. Harding's Octagon Hotel. Jago and Co., Octagon timber yard. Law, Somner and Co., nurserymen and seedimen. J. M'N. Simpson, butcher. A. and T. Burr, plumbers. Garrett and Co., Octagon coach factory. On the southerly side of Mr Wilson's, the premises were — Herbert, Haynes and Co, drapers and clothiers. Paterson and M'Leod, grocers, and wine and spirit merchants. James de Maus, photographer. G. R. West, pianoforte and music seller. Sontgen and Carr, tailors. James Reid, chemist and druggist. J. Zierck, fancy warehouse. Theatre Royal. Criterion Hotel, P. Barker. A small Boarding House. S. H. Johnson, plumber and gasfitter. A Cottage. On the easterly side of Princes street, there were burned down the premises of- *

C. Begg, pianoforte and music dealer. Hamilton and Wa'son, furniture dealers. Scanlan Bros, and Co., oil and color merchants. W. Gregg and Co., coffee aud spice merchants. Schnack and Co., hairdressers and bathkeepers. W. Sinclair, tailor. J. R. Crawford, surgeon. Frederick Tofield, watchmaker and jeweller. The brick building which escaped burning, is occupied at one end by Mr C. M. Ware, as the South Australian Hotel ; and at the other by Messrs Cullen and Key, furniture makers and dealers, and by the newly-introduced Skating Rink. The building has suffered a good deal from scorching and from She breakage of glass. It would be simply useless for us to attempt to estimate the value of the property destroyed by this fire. To approach it, there n^ist be cool computation, which has not been possible, at the time we write. The furniture andlongpiles of goods hurled into the street, or more quietly got out, will probably be found to-day to be not worth on the whole, one quarter ot their original market-value. As fer as most of the valuable piano- fortes in Mr West's shop are concerned, they will certainly be shaken, but probably not much otherwise injured ; for, as carefully as was possible, they were carried away to near the levelled part of Bell Hill. We did not hear what became of Mr Begg's etock ; but it was nearly all got out. In the premises which were formerly occupied by the Town Board (next Mr Begg's) there was property to the value of L.250, which was sent out by Messrs Jennings, of London, sanitary engineers, to be shown in the New Zealand Exhibition, 1865. It arrived too late for that purpose ; and Mr John Millar, C.E., to whom it had been assigned, obtained the permission of Mr James Turner, the owner of the premises, to place it in the old Town Board office. There it remained, awaitirg Messrs Jennings's instruction', which were recently received, to the effect that the goods should be shipped to Adelaide There has, unfortunately, been no chance of obeying those instructions. We did not hear one suggestion last night as to the origin of this great calamity. We believe there is not a doubt that the fire commenced on the premises occupied by Mr Willson; and we know that Mr Wilson says that he cannot imagine how the blaze originated. He says that he locked up tbe place about eight o'clock, and that then all appealed safe. There had been no fire lighted on the premises during the day; and Mr Wiilaon states that he most carefully put out all the lights. They were kerosene lamps, gas not being laid on. Nothing, or next to nothing, was got out of the premises. Mr Willson estimates tbe value of his stock at something near LI200 ; and he was insured for LBOO, LSOO in the Alliance office, and L3OO in the Victoria. There were carpenters working on the premises yesterday, fitting a place at the back for use as a kitchen ; it being Mr Willeon's intention give up his house in Dowling street, and to live on the premises. Mr Willson says he feels sure that the carpenters had no fire or light during the day ; and he adds that, after the alarm-bell had been rung, he went from Dowling street, and getting first to the back of his shop, he carried away several caseß of kerosene, which stood within his fence, close up to which came the end of one of the timber stacks in Messrs Jago's yard. The extent to which the buildings and stocks were insured, will be ascertain able to-day, as there will certainly be a meeting of insurance agents. We believe that the following represents the amount lor which the Otago Company is concerned : — Paterson and M'Leod's stock, LSOO ; Herbert, Haynes, and Co. 'a stock, LSOO ; Criterion building, L 250: total, L 1250.

In addition, there are insurances iesued by the Company on the South Australian Hotel and Cullen and Key's premises, to the amount of L 170 0; but that is reduced to L IOOO by re- insurances, and the loss — repairs of the building — will be comparatively trifling. We must add that for rapidity of propress and frequently-repeated intensity, the fire of last night has not been exceeded, if equalled, by any that has occurred here. Within an hour, all the premises destroyed were burned or burning; and from the two hotels, from the Theatre Royal, and from the block beginning with Mr Begg'er shop, there flapped upwards great bursts of flame, which must have been seen for miles in every direction.

The Fire Brigade were as prompt; and as active as possible ; but they could really do little or nothing except try to keep the flames from crossing Moray Place. They did try to save the easterly side of the street; but the heat was so overpowering, and the spread of the fire through the dry wood buildings so startingly rapid, that the London Brigade, if fully supplied with water, could scarcely have hoped to do much good. It is of no use speculating what might have resulted, if there had been a fire plug arywhere between Moray Placeand the Octagon, from which a powerful stream of water could almogt instantly have been played into Mr Willson's shop. It is an unfortunate fact that, as yet, though there may be pipes and plugs laid down, the Water Company has not been, able to give any kind of supply. During the latter part of the fierce-burn-ing of the fire, great flakes were floated [Over the city, causing much danger. One flake travelled as far as a yard at the rear 'of Messfs Ross and Glendining's warehouse, in Stafford street, and there ignited some paper and other refuse. There was speed fly a blaze ; but it was discovered from the Provincial Hotel ; and Mr Court and others, with the ready- filled buckets kept in the hotel, at once put an end to the danger.