TWO LIVES LOST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2363, 8 June 1899, Page 13

TWO LIVES LOST.

DAMAGE TO CARGO EXTENSIVE LONDON, June 3.

A fire occurred in a large shed ir the Victoria Docks in which was stored the cargo of the Australian liner Banffshir©.

; The flames spread to the Banffshire, , which was lying alongside the jetty.

One of the steamer's firemen jumped oveiboard and was drowned Another man was* suffocated by ammonia fumes, while the chief officer was nearly suffocated. , June 4.

The fire in the Banffshire was extin* guished. Three holds were burned out.

The consignments of rabbits and frozen meat aboard are safe in the cold storage, excepting the carcases of 9000 lambs, which are believed to be burned. The wool stored in the sheds was burned. The losses .are heavy.' * . '

Messrs Turnbull, Martin, and Co.?s splen, did Shire line steairler Banffshire arrived at Port Chalmers on her last visit on the 3rd March, and after taking in cargo left again on the '7tb for Wellington. There she completed her loading, and sailed for London on the 28th March. She was under the command of Captain F._ Stewart, who was accompanied by the follSwing staff of officers : — Chief, Mr Brown ; second, Mr Weston ;' third, Mr Martin ; fourth, Mr Wingate. The engine room,' was under the supervision of Mr Lamb, with Mr Dunlop as second. The Banffshire's cargo from Port Chalmers consisted of 1243 bales wool, 20 do rabbitskins, 23 do leather and .basils, 48 casks tal- ' low, 31 do pelts, 241 sacks oats, 92 cases meats, 103 bags ore, 11 pkgs sundries, 2019 boxes butter, 12,652 carcases mutton, 253 crates rabbits. At the Bluff the Banffsbire took on board . 3353 bales wool and skins* 300 cases meats, 324 sacks oatk, 42 casks tallow and pelts, 15,927 carcases frozen mutton and lamb, 939 crates rabbits, 28 cases plucks, 40 dp kidneys, and 25 piece? beef.

A rosebud half-open s which is to be seen at the north end, is a proof of the openness of the present season.

"Empire and freedom!" So said one -of the greatest of Romans, when asked whai were his politics. Britone, let the motto b« your yatchword throughout the ages. But no less notable was tfio saying of one of tht greatest of New Zealand public men when asked what he took for » cough or cold, "WoodVs Great Peppermint Cure, hi exclaimed. Ho was as right as the old Roman statesman. Give it a trial; it is sold everywhere and never fail*