FIRE AMID WATER FAMINE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLL, Issue 13305, 14 February 1914, Page 10

FIRE AMID WATER FAMINE.

DISTRESS IX MONTREAL.

MONTREAL. Dec. 29

Owin,<jr to the Avater sliurta.ce. a fire which broke out m Ontario street East, m the French district of the city, early this afternoon caused much and uneasiness, as it av»s' feared that the Avator pi"essuro Avould be inadequate to stay the progress of, the flames. ' When the fire started the firemen were powerless, as only a trickle of Avater came through the hose. Tlie pressure Nvas subsequently sufficient to enable the fire to be put out. but not before ,<lamago to the extent of over £40,000 had been done. The fire was the result of an explosion m a garage, the flames spreading to the adjoining buildings. Sixty .motor cars were burned. Many people fled from the neighborhood, fearing a wholesale conflagration. The civic authorities announced "today that the AA'ater service will bo resumed to-morroAV, but thei'e are grave fears. that this will not be possible, as the engineers havo discovered a crack m the roof of .1 conduit extending 500 feet fronvthe present "break." With the "break" repaired the experts belie_ve that ."tliis crack will cause much lossrof water and that impurities will leak, into what remains. Meantime the only available supply of water is 14,000,000 gallons daily from a pm r ato company. The normal consumption of tlie city is ov r er 60,000,000 gallons daily. V 7000- OUT OF WORK. „ .„. , • SeAen thousand men at the Angus shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway arc out ,of work owing to the water failure. '<3frave distress exists m one of the largest convents of the city, and some of the children inmates have been forced to go to other convents where AA'ater' and heat are obtainable. Surgical operations! m .one hospital havo been postponed because of the lack of clean water. The Archbishop Bruchcsi has asked the Roman Catholic schools and colleges m the affected area to close until water is obtainable A number of churches Avero affected to a greater or lesser extent on Sunday by the water shortage. The congregation of St. James' Methodist Chure.h met m a theatre becau|e there Avas no water for heating purposes, Avhile the Fifst Baptist ' Church was unable to obtain sufficient water for a total immersion' ceflnionj^' Other churches have no power for their organs and some had to fill their boilers for heating by hand. The Rev. Bruce Taylor and the Rev. Charles Williams, recent arrivals froni Liverpool and Dublin respectively, m sermons severely censured the ciA'ic authorities for "mis-management." The former declared that the sanitary condition of ■ the ' ctiy was fast becoming like that of the Boer trenches of Paarde-