$Hie Fire on the Cintra.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7544, 27 January 1896, Page 4

$Hie Fire on the Cintra.

!|;; ; ' '."-' AN EXCITING TIME. gksiDBBABiiE excitement was caused hero ijjys the Portland, correspondent of the tgus under date January 12) about 3 clock this afternoon by the appearance of two large steamers, one of |wbioh was to all appearances on fire. As £te>oß as thevessels reached the anchorage rjai'titimber of small boats went out and Jfound that the steamer was on fire, and pbh.at.ishe was the Cintra, bound from Ptelbdurne to Western Australia. Smoke |Wais:poming in dense volumes- from the ijforbcastle deck, and gangs of men were pouring wator into the fore hatch |from the ship's hoses and buckets. After tfijbouple of hours' steady work with varying success the fire was at last got: under, fluid .visitors .were, allowed on board. It j*as iound that the ship was crowded with spassorjgers, there being some 500 in all, men, but there were a good Oiumber of women and children amongst ;them. It appears that the fire was discovered in the fore hatch shortly bofore [noon, when the Cintra was off Discovery ijßay. The steamer was immediately. ■slowed down and waited for the Bulitnba, irotu Adelaide, which was about due at :shab point at the time. She soon hove in [sight, and when the intelligence of the been communicated to her it was to put the Cintra abcub and run pnto Portland Bay. This accordingly was ,done, the Bulimba accompanying the rCintra. The women are said to, have {behaved splendidly, showing an example : to a number of the opposite sex who imtaediatoly rushed for the lifebelts and 'tenaciously clung to them. |- ; ! . STATEMENT BY A PASSENGER. p; Mr G. E. Watson, a passenger per the 8.6. Cintra, thus describes the scene :— %b about' l2 o'clock, when nearly all were seated for dinner, the cry ran throuahout •the. vessel "Ship's afire !" which was the 'first intimation of anything being wronor. The frenzied rush by about 300 men to 'get on deck could hardly bo described ; they wero running over each other and pushing in all directions in their mad desire to escape from what then appeared .to be a dreadful calamity. Many had the lifebelts securely fastened on, while other got the boats in readiness for launching. The majority thought only of fthe possibility of saving their lives, and |did not wait to bring their personal effects •on deck. A. few Chinese were the first '.to appear on deck with their belongings. jGreat credit is due to Captain Savage for »his coolness and skilful management of thu jvesael and the excited crowd under his Care. The hose was immediately got yready, and a continuous flow of water poured down the fore hatch by the aid of %he donkey engine. The Cintra was then bJead.ed.for laud, bub about half an hour later 'the Bulimba, inward bound, was Wghted, whichgaveus great relief. The turning ship was then headed for the Bulimba, believing "that ib was then posBible and safe to make for Portland, some [miles distant. The latter vessol turned [about and accompanied tho Cintra to rPortland. Ab times the volume of smoke issuing from all the portholes and ventilators in the quarter of the fire was almost blinding " and _ unbearable, even on the aaloon deck, where all passengers were ordered. The captain could not supervise operations at tho seat of the fire from the bridge, and was compelled to ascend a mast, where he remained all tho time. The fact of the Bulimba being close at sand did much to restore calmness and avert a panic. The chief officer (Mr F. W. [Marshall^ and the second mate (Mr A. J. fMahy) did all they could to calm the excited crowd and master the fire, while ■they wore appealed toon every hand as to :the_ probable extent of the danger, but .their patience was not overtaxed, for they Jpaanaged to speak civilly aud kindly to questioners' whilo their energies were burdened with extreme responsibility. Mx J. A. Young, third mate, deserves much praise for his plucky conduct. Ho stripped off his official and cumborsome Slothing,' and in his singlet worked shoulder to shoulder with the sailors as hard as. any man could, work. The fire had probably been burning all night, and yraa- very likely caused by smokers lighting their pipes under the protection of the ventilators and casting a match carelessly Jlowa the hatch. Had the alarm been given at night the consequence would have been dreadful, and great loss of life would have Tesulted. But everything seemed to favor' the Ointra — a calm sea and scarcely any wind, and the greatest blessing of all, the Bulimba near by and daylight. When ttie fire broke out the vessel was several miles from land, and even with the extra life-saving appliances recently provided matters were very serious for an hour pi so, for with such a crowd on board they would have been entirely inadequate. Both vessels anchoredashortdistance from Portlatid, and numbers of willing hands came out from the shore to give assistance, but the 'fire was overcome by 7 o'clock, and there was ho need of any boats. A bridge Was laid down between the steamers, and the steerage passengers — about 300 -got aboard the Bulimba, and started for Melbourne at 8 p.m. A large quantity of new furniture was burnt, and a great deal of saloon passengers' luggage destroyed by fire and water. Some of the families in the steerage saved nothing but. what they pore, and noarly all the sailors' possessions were burnt. These poor follows troiked hard in blinding -smoke, pouring water oh the fire, and took their lives in their hands, for beneath their feet and nfeap the fire were 200 cases of kerosene. I!heae were hauled out, and one case was lotiosd to be suverely scorched. The (ingle men in the steerage lost very little, for nearly all their goods were rolled up iir swags, which they brought out when ;be excitement had calmed a little. i-With reference to the cov/ardice said to laVe been shown by some of the male Jasaengers, tho officers of the Cintra give jb&aßserUon a complete denial, although Sis admitted that one or two men wanted or ■ their pwn use more than the solitary ifebelt allowed. One individual managed j> secure no less than three of the belts, ,ud refused to give up any of them. On ha 1 : return trip from Portland to Melipurne the saloon passengers marked heir/ appreciation of the courage disilayed by Captain Savage, his oilicers, md. cnyp by presenting them with a ,estimofiml. fe'7 -' • <—~ " ' --■::-?= §A best man nearly killed the bridesmaid at a wedding fuust »t Preston (ho ItHer day. Tho mother explained to the |flgistrato that all the guests were drunk. STfromas Alva Edison is a wheelman, B&'.iV naturally follows that his inventive emus will be manifested in Kurmounliii" iiffibultioH incident to cycling. Ho lms t|d_ a spring attached to his wheel to BSisfc in climbing sleep grades. Mr Wisori is. at) ardent, buliever in the ultii'ate attachment of storage butteries to iojcleßj ut\6 flsys it is only o, matter of a l^yearatanpst before hundred.i of miles |j¥pepi»l ?bjoyclu roads will he built with j§tßle-lin6 trolly wires overhead. Riders ?}ir have motors on their wheels, which |n" receive current from the wires by SSJlys.'so that quick spins may be taken. !gis,'wquld, in the wizntdls opinion, open Wjvne'w sphere of pleasure r.nd usofuluots 8/the devotees of the wheel, jpplie German Government is trying to |$s^the- agricultural problem by enBUM'ging the production of beet. A tax i& 0 -H t0 y ' eld 1 - 570 = 000 * year, is KSHOUfud on the importation of suoht §s;,°£ tnis amount L 1,000,000 is to° be i& e PJ? d ."» tripling the bounties on ffiB e -|r?'?P ooet. sugar. This will, it j s T0y.6d,:«0 stimulate the cultivation that P^PJoduction is feared, and the amount feajoh.eachfarm.will'therefore be fixed inspectors. 'Any faugur

produced in excess of thab will be specially and heavily taxed, md the proceeds reserved to make up any deficiency in the bounty fund. It is believed that under this Echenie the price of sugar will rise 30 per cent., while of course exporting facilities will be greatly increased, the bounty onabling the farmers to sell to exporters cheaply. ! A sensational burglary was perpetrated at Esperance, Western Australia, in the jeweller's shop of Councillor Collins, in Main street. About 12 o'clock a bauk clerk observed a man near the bank creeping under the building. Ho got a revolver and covered him, and the man then decamped, taking a sack with him. The clerk thoughts that the man was camping, but subsequently c;i tv something glittering on the ground under the building, and found it to be a handful of watches and jewellery. His suspicions ■vvero aroused, and ho rushed across the street aud found that Collins shop window had boon broken. Tho police were summoned, and the jewellery was found in different parts of the town. The bank clerk recognised the man, having known him in Southern Cross. Early noxt morning a coat was found full of watches and little jewellery along the beach, and at midday Charles Reid was arrested and identified as the culprit. The owner of the shop was arrested for being drunk while on the prohibited drunkard's list. The International Industrial Exhibition of the South African Republic will be opened to the public in Johannesburg on the |lafc gday of May, 189(5, and will be continued through May and Juno. It will be by far the most extensive affair of tho kind ever held in South Africa, and it is expected that it will be tho means of showing the world that the World's " Dark Continent," as applied to one part of the country at least is a decided misnomer. The foremost business houses of the world will have representations amongst its exhibits, and it will servo to show the wonderful resources of this comparatively new continent. The area of tho exhibition grounds will be 500,000 square feet ; that of the main buildings 100,000 square feet. The omnipresent globe trotter will be surprised to find, when he reaches Johannesburg next May, that Exposition will not only show up the serious side of Africa, but that it will contwin all the illusory features of other Expositions in other parts of the world, and he will be able to patronise a Midway Plaisance, streets and villages from foreign cities, or other attractions of like nature, just as he was able to do in Chicago, Illinois, or in Paris during the last Exposition.