Serious Fire at Mataura.

Southland Times, Issue 19774, 26 March 1906, Page 2

Serious Fire at Mataura.

FREEZING WORKS PARTIALLY DESTROYED. HEAVY ' LOSSES. Early on Saturday morning a serious lira occurred at the Southland i'Tecging Company.’s works ajt Matanra, resulting in the complete destruction of the manure department and rabbit packing shed, with their plant and contents. * The tiro was first noticed about- s.tit) a.in. by the night watchman (George Bigwood), who at once gave the alarm on the works' syren. When discovered the lianies were coming through thereof of the manure! department, and the alarm had only sounded a few moments when the rope connected with tlie syren was burned away. Fortunately r however, the whistling was taken up by the Mataura Paper .Mill, which is on the opposite side of the river, the lire having been observed by the employes.

The building destroyed was a Uvostoreyed one. the major part of which had been standing for over eight tears. It was built of wood, and was of rather light construction. It was sil.nated at the south-west end of tlii! building, the portion nearest tim railway station being let to rabbit exporting linns, and I lie remainder 'being occupied by tim company's manure plant, elc. At the eastern end there were two large boilers which supplied steam and hot water to various portions of the premises. As is well-known, the freezing machinery is driven by a water turbine. The tremendous rapidity with which the flames advanced is explained by tlie tact that- there were over ton casks of tallow (value ttSOO). a. large (juantity of oils, and other inflammable materials stored in t lie building'. 'Water was of go avail against such fuel, awl the fire had simply to burn itself out. The

11 ! 1111 a 11 v's brigade had to contend with the intense heat and stilling smoke, awl they aiust find sntisl'artion in tlie fact that they saved (he wain building from serious damage, awl averted what would have been a great calamity to tile commerce ol Soul Idan,l. 'I here is convincing pi iiof of till' narrowness of the esra;..- nf the main liidbling in tin •• ! 11 . 1 ii:i ,n of i In* roof id’ the brick room bet .e'i'ti lie*, manure works-

,-mi ih * freezing v.orks. The heal : 1 : milled up Ihe i I'nii. awl the I'm v, os .mu willy inside, but. the roof wall, ailed ae ! •.hinger averted by a conC !i: |"H ion of all the hose availabb i It's particular spot. A gooi d'd o' ''.'mage was done lo (lie m,r ~■ r * i mi, 1 1 in the building, but ii a ■ i v irely irreparable.

OMBIV l\ DOUBT. ■ I :,. • oi ‘ i;; 11 1 of the life is UlpllOWU. I ! iic-m ceil, of ro.u se. in that part of I lie 1 1 11 ilrl ill pi' where the two steam i,oilers were locjtitl. ait.l it can only be sati; oseil that a spark escaped from 11 ue of the furnaces and set lire to the iullammaMe material which c. as i here in plenty. The night ■■,.i.>h; aa 11 visited the department at ia i c..; i - dec! ng his shift . and he ■ • ; nal he was in this pan icular j lll r< i ll i> of the building only half an hone 1 eh>re lie discovered the outlii - alt. everything being ttpparently secure .it that time. When he lirsl .-a w I fie lire it had a strong hold oa tin- walls nea.r the boilers, and, as before staled, t lie llames were going ( lii onc.T the roof. 'i'he alarm s'.nn.s to have been I alien up verv general l.v by the residents of .Mat aura, as in a verv shod space of time theft' was a lure.' as ."Hilda,'.;.' of sped ill ors and assistants. T'U.S • first on the scene set :'i ■ powerful id.ntp.v■ • j, 11111 ;> ia moiioa. and in a few moments four pow,'i'l'ul Jets were playing on the i'uiuie.-'. To nice an itlea of the force of waiter available it might be meit- ■ ion 'tl that vii a the lr-1 jet was t uraeil on tin'".' m. a were hardly sit I ri'-ieii i 1,, ! p ill' i.ou 1" point tag in tli' cicl't oic c’ion. Tite manager ')]' ihe vvor:-' , Mr d. ilamilton. anil Ml" chief ‘ iitfinec.'. ..'if d . 11, Scot I . were puickly in a 1 1 e.nianee. and they a-., uni' •• I charge of I lie : i re-figh ting rata,ns. T". o lines of hose wen' ■: a irk it to tie- top of the brick led il.t ". v hi. d was separat'd from the burning portion nidv by a brick uv 11.I 1 . ,a ml I lie rema indi ■ ; played oa tit' 1 Imililing f • : ; from si ri el . I ( was ole. : fr.-m Ihe b - aiiiitin"' th.al ii Was impossible to ■a"e tlm wooden building. an<i elToft s were I-mse.|U"iil I,v centred on tlte ■it e.-erva I inti of the main works. A si run"' north-east, wind was blowing, and this carried the flames away Tom this portion of the buildiiu', otherwise the tremendous efforts of the wricks’ brigade might have !•.- n nn tvailing.

It Was t!idil;;hl linssil.h- that (lie ad' itncintr liaines inieht cut oIT irc -s----in t In- water supply, and a telephone a sa ■ ■ va-. -.-nl for I lie (lore brigade Id l.i'ire; li-rvn its si e:tni onuifii-. 'i'he hrirade re-,ponded pro cp - :.v Id the rail, an-'l w -r ■ on I he- '.r-its I'drind iha’ I Iv- etc.-ia- was not tv■ptired. and ilia' the lev was pra - i ically uiasleri d. <'api ain Wallis, win) put up a recoril for lie- motorcycle bd weep (.'ore and Mai aura, arrived rolisideraMy in adiaive oMhe ' r'raae. and readeiv.l valuable pssis-lale-e lo lire" in rharee. It is diiliriilt Id iinaeiiie that a more COMI'IT'.TK Wlll'CK ronld he mad- of a bnildiny than the fin- has made of the m.-vnnre and ; aid n't departments. The area on ■r.liirh the litiildim;' Mood is liiien-d with siirivelled i 11 1 iron. sinoalieriae -eid. s of manure, and liettt aad I w i'-i. d marhi liens', A I noon on Salnrdav Ihiines were still asc-ndim;' from the acciumilai ions of tallo.v. and one lias only to retiiemher Ilia' tin' fe were of Ihi s. pfo■!lK t, ill •he hidhiine' to realise what a l a. e. d.-.ss lash ii was to extinyuish the dames ota-e t!r-y had a firm hold. The boilers and di w St ens were, of • •otirse, mi mo--,', d, and it is hoped that, mu hemp- the most delicate old machinery, they will have escaped serious damaye, as from tln-ir position hi the hnildine; and tin- direction of the wind they were not snbiertml to the intense h-at which would otherwise have been centred on them. Till’. Id.AVI' IiKSTIP IVKII he 1 . '■■ all Ihe apparal us for lh ■ ■ re. ll nifiii of the l»y-pr whietK—din'".— ier... manure mixers, tallow ivl'mina; maihinery, boilers. lame crtishei s. and lime wrindine' plant. The A!ala'ira eleririe lipht s.-rviee was aliveted. hut tlr- interruption will he only a matter of a day or two, until Mr- wires are replaced. The Coro wires were unharmed. A number of the free/in;;' works hands had been employed oveniiylU. loading vans of frozen meat for shipment 1 1 v the s.s. Ruapehu. The vans were left on the siding next til' t-nildinu'. ready for removal, and ■li re was some danger to them from the fi'-e. A crowd of volunteers came, to the rescue, and the vans were moved to a place of safety. One was he.-.dl v scorched. and it s contents were lischarp;ed hack into 11f fn-e/er. Alii; A NO In MIC NTS FOR CARRYINC ON.

!( is snl isfaclory 1o note that the losses -of the various rahhil 'firms will lie comparatively infinitesimal. \ lare-e nnmher of rabbits were revived on Friday, but. they were daced in the freezer in Hie evening, mil so escaped destruction. The rab-til-packing, sheds were occupied by fowan and Go. (Port Chalmers), J. I’avlor GMataura), F. J. Sullivan

(Dunedin), White and Co. (Dunedin), Wallis Bros. /Gore Meat Preserving Works), Tucker and Co. (Mataura), Wowerbutts and Co. (Invercargill), and Tonkin and Co. (Dunedin). All these (inns lost a certain amount of plant and a number of crates. Messrs Tonkin and Co. lost a very fine imprest branding apparatus. There will be no particular dislocation of the rabbit business, as provision has been made by the company to receive the rabbits at the works until new sheds are erected.

The chairman of dire; ’ >rs (Mr J. Mt'Cneen) was ah.sent in Heriot on Saturday, and was advik- I of the (ire at Waipahi, when on his way back to Invercargill. He slopped at .Mataura for some hours, and came on to Invercargill in tha evening. Speaking to our reporter! he Said that he did not anticipate any particular dislocation of trade. The loss of the manure was fairly heavy, but it was at present impossible to say to what extent it had been damaged. The freezing works and fellmongery were intact, and would not be put to anything more than slight inconvenience by the fire. The fellmongery was affected by the loss of the steam generating plant, which supplied the drying machine., but a temporary engine would lie put in to overcome this difficulty. The byproducts of the Mataura works would be sent to the Wallacetown works to be treated, the recent additions to th* plant there making it possible to cope with the Mataura output. A meeting of directors will lie held on Thursday next, and it was certain that re-building would be ordered without delay. It was im| lossiiilo to give even an approximate estimate of the loss which had been sustained until a practical examination had been made. Unofficial estimates place the damage at anything from £OOOO to £BOOO. INSURANCES. r l lie buildingdestroyed was insured in the State office for £1250, the plant in the Royal for £(1125, and the stock in tlie South British for ttffOo. We understand that this is tlie first serious loss sustained by the Slate office since its inception. The Royal office has also a line of Ciuuii on the manure in the brick si ore, the contents of which were damaged by water. ii is a matter for congratulation i licit the most vital parts of the works escaped without injbry. The -Mataura works are an important fart or in tlie commercial progress of Southland, and the shareholders in :h-> company would not have been the only sufferers had the fire consum -d the whole building. Those who visited tim works on tlie occa.;,,n ~i tile annual picnic will no d mla remember bcling shown tlie (ire extinguishing plant which so conclusively proved itself on Soturte. There cannot be the slightest ,j.. ni,t (hat its splendid response to I.miamis made on it was the salva- ■ ion of the works, and that tlnougb ii what would have been little short of a catastrophe to the district was averted.