GREAT FIRE IN TAY STREET

Southland Times, Issue 17193, 12 November 1912, Page 5

GREAT FIRE IN TAY STREET

DKriTIHT'TIOX OK /.ROUT f, 16,000 WORTH OK J’ROI'KHTV. Rums oi' two i.i (1 ’mm 1 1 1 <*- In', ■■ i< ;»r?? ill Times, M a nli ITH.) TilP fitlrimlly. which we have long IT 11, v.liicli v,e have often referml in as likely in hi ; or, jo:;u Icne'.li taken place. 'JTif breaking '<iil nl lilt in a Mock nl' wootlcn hni Mi ngs has eaus.-d the desinirlion of properly estimated at Hie value of about ')iia ( and saddest of ail In jv-1 a If, if-iiltid in the loo; of Iv.’i) Mm :;, In or,o O.ori lialf Ikm.t, fir: large Injil■ lings, corr.iii i ■ 0", U'n i■ I :M* hotels, n large i or.MM i i• a J!. a I.uuMiir establishment, two shops. if d tho printing Office of llio "Time.-,'' have In on levelled to the ground 1,*■ loro Micro was barfly time to .-rive a liray load of properly.

I'li-hT the circumstance •of excitement which took place tint ing and alder such an awful dl.-as Hr. it is barely possible to obtain any accurate infot ir.a tion as to the might and progress o! such a firo; hut the following r.arr.i i ion of the occurrence is as near as possible correct. Tho (ire originated in Mu* Kxcelsior Hotel, Tay street the commencement of tho Med;, nearly adjoining Mueller and Geisow's auction rooms, and communicating with the office of the "Times” next door, I hence spread acne"; the narrow right-of-way separating the Times olhee from Spencer and Company’s kerosene and lamp store, and Neustadl'.s Tobacconists ; from the latter to the Criterion Hotel and Concert .Hall, and (henco to tho Union Rank premises before Us progress was arrested.

it appears that between if and 1 o'clock on Monday nlglii, Mrs 11*11. the wife of the landlord of M-e Uvrcoislor Hotel, retired to lied, the barmaid going to bed ut the same time. At. H.at lime Mr JTall and a few friends were sitting up in the front parlour, over the bar, playing at card:;, which they continued until bc.lv. cen - and M o'clock, when they all left the hotel with Hie exception of a friend of Mr 1 tad’s, Mr Quinton, who. tho hoar being late, tay down on the sofa in the parlour until morning. Mr Hall, who then retired to bed. states that shortly before sit: o'clock he awoke,

and aimo'-t immediately foil off to sleep, when tiia t';a::t ihing lie recollects "'is being wo'ii' by the barmaid who slept in a bedroom on the other aide o)' the pasnage—calling eat that the place was on lire. Mr Hull .lumped out of bed and, almost suffocated by Hie smoke called on !ii<; wife and the girl (o follow liim. He is nnubie to state accurately how he got out of tl’o burning house; but .some of the few persons whom the alarm of tire liar] by this time drawn to the spot, state that he scrambled—almost threw himself from the window of the front parlour on to the pavement below, receiving; severe bruises in addition to the burns lie received by the fire above. At this time the (lames appeared to be fiercest in the bowling saloon, which extended from the rear of tho hotel, and also in (lie back part of the premises of the hotel itself. Although the persons in the street were informed of the perilous situation of Mrs Hall and the barmaid, it was found perfectly impossible to adopt any means to save them. Mr Quinton, who was only awoke in the front room by Mr Halt rushing; past him in coming to the open Wjfidosv, was cried io by Mr Hall to try ‘ftPsaAe bis wife: but although he made an attempt in get near tier bed room the great body 01 ttumes and smoke drove him luck, and lie had hardly time to get out of liio parlour window, and drop in : .o the street.

Although it was barely five .minutes from the time that Mr Hall was aroused, tii© whole of the premises of the hotel and bowling saloon were in flames, and the high wind blowing from tho southwest caused the fire to communicate with the adjoining premises of tho

"Times” office, which apepared fo lie ignited from every portion of the adjoining burning building, the front premises of the “Times” office, and the printing offices attached, running backwards in a parallel direction, and immediately alongside ibe hotel and bowiing saloon. Before ten minutes, or at most a quarter of an hour had elapsed, the two buildings referred to were in flame.s, which being blown across the narrow

ight-of-way to the adjoining kerosene

store, the inflammable stock in the latter was set fire to, and as the flames communicated with the tins of• kerosene they bur-l into fire with a loud explosion. The rapidity with which the fire now spread to the shop and premises of Mr Neustadt, under the same roof of Spencer and Co., is almost incredible. The kerosene-fed flames shot out from the front and back of tlie premises, leaving the occupants barely time to escape with their lives. The latter circumstance is a strong proof of the rapidity of the fire, which originating in the hotel two doors from Mr Neustadt’s, hardly gave the occupants lime to escape with their lives, before the house was in flames. The fire next communicated with the Criterion Hotel and Concert Hall, which wore both speedily in the rapidity with which they were' driven from house to house by tho high and fierce wind, appearing to paralyse tho bystanders, although no attempt! to save the contents of any of the houses, could have been attended with any success indeed, could only, perhaps, have resulted in loss of life. The close contiguity of the large premises occupied by the Union Bank made it apparent that they would also soon be on fire, and exertions were made to save some of the contents. Accordingly men were employed in removing some of the furniture, and such effect;! as wore portable and could be got at easily. Hardly v. a ; there time to remove some portion before tho flame.;; from the Criterion Hotel caught the corner of the ban.k premises, and in a few moments the large wooden building was a body of flames. The sight of the fire was at this time horrifying. So rapid was the spread of llie fire that when the Union Bank was burning at its fiercest height, the flames from the Excelsior Hotel were still considerably high; the wholo of the block, with the adjoining bank premises were on fire together, the beat from the flames actually scorching the paint on the premises on tho opposite side of the street, and in some instances breaking tho glass windows in the shop.-: at the other side of tho street, about two chains wide. The sight was the more horrifying to those who beheld it,, from the knowledga that two human beings were at the moment suffering, or had just expired by one of the most horrible of deaths.

Shortly after the tiro broke out the Volunteer Hire Brigade were on the spot with Uie.ir new hook and ladder apparatus, and afterwards a fire engine ' was brought to the spot. A great deficiency of water rendered the engine, however, of little or no service. The services of the Brigade therefore, combined with many other equally willing hands from the crowd, were; put into requisition in order to prevent the lire from communicating from the bank to the promises occupied by Mr Rose, Hie bookseller, the probable result of such an occurrence appearing to all that the whole of the block of building.; of which Mr Rose’s is die commencement and terminating with the Provincial Hotel, would have boon destroyed. Under those circumstances order.! were giver, to yul! down Mr Rose’s 1 , premisr-s, and this work was actually commenced, the whole of the front part in the, shop having been taken out, when either by a providential Pall of the wind or that tits large intervening space and iron "hoarding" between the buildings rendered the demolition of Mr Rose’s premises unnecessary, as the tire stayed its progress with the destruction of the bank. The wind however carried heavy flakes of lire on to the. roof of ’Mr Rose’s premises, and to that of Mr Otl’s, the tailors, adjoining, and had it not been for the active services of the Brigade and others with buckets and water, tiny would have taken lire; as it was the burning v ood deposited on th:* roofs communicated with the calico lining unwas perform-d by large hob's by the falling pieces of lire. So narrow an escape had many of the adjoining premise:; from being set fire to, that we may state tin; wind carried pieces of burning wood and deposited thorn on the roofs of houses nearly as far up Tay street as the Union Hotel, and it was only by careful watching by their occupants that they were prevented from catching fire. The fierce rapidity of tho tire may be judged of by tho simple relation of the fact that it first broke out about half-post six o’clock, and by a few minutes after 7 o'clock the wholo of the premises enumerated were represented by heaps of smoking ruins. Barely was time allowed for the ruins to become cool before search was made for the remains of the two poor women —Mrs Hall and tho barmaid, Elizabeth

Jamieson which were at I ant (omul underneath ii l.< up o'' marred timber and bricks. Fire had al • e:e<l the bodes I torn any semblance of the human torni, and tin-only thing app.'ireM presented by (WO /:.asees of a c!(ai ‘'on!-i i! ' substance in t,!; ;j [>< ■ something like human bodies. J'roni Urn position of the remains of Dm a run-: of one of Dm bodies, :m they were imlli iii:;f ovi- ri d lying together, if appeared probable tin;!, mm Lad ion lo the oil.i-c r o." jn'oi c ci : on. and liny had per-ish-d in <- ; ;k!i wf.cr.! arms. The remains

were removed lo Dm Royal Hotel, where ihey await an inqucM.. -'dr Hall, whose menial stale may I." easily imagined, had lo be removed to the Hospital, By Hie Ilamen he ho:-: been badly burned alioui the hands, arms, lea k of the nee;k. and lace, and ha.- besides received several contusions in dropping from the window. In the cot;e.-<> of yesterday, one of the iron safes was removed irotn the

ruins of the Union Rank, and also a second safe from the brick strongroom which was on the premi <e.s. Both of the safes, which appeared to lie uninjured by the action of the fire, contained, it is id.iled, a large amount in gold and bullion, besides the books and other valuable documents of the bank. We have been since informed that, with the exception of the loss of the premises, the tank lias suffered no other actual loss.

At the present moment, it would be injudicious to refer to any of the many rumours which are current as to the origin of the lire, as there will in all probability be an official and authorised enquiry into the matter. We may menlion however, that Mr Hall stales that he saw all the fires and lights put out before he retired to bed. The most feasible ;■ opposition would bo that the fire first originated in the bowling saloon attached lo the rear of tho hotel, and had been smouldering from the previous night and most probably was caused by the end of a lighted cigar, or ashes from a pipe, carelessly thrown near tit© inilamrr.ab’.e materials of which it was construe:!ed. We have no official information at present as to the actual amount of property destroyed, nor tic amount covered by insurance. Tlio following, however, will be near Die amounts: Flcftlslor Hotel, insured for fcOe. loss about £1000; ’’Times’’ office, insured for £IOOO, loss £7000; Spencer and Company, uninsured, loss about £1500; Xcustadt. insured for £IOO, loss about £500; Criterion Hotel and Concert Hal!, insurance not known, loss about tf'fiOO: Union Bunk - , insured for £."000. loss estimated aboul £1000; Bose, loss by water and rum oval of goods, unknown: (Jit. loss by water and removal of goods, unknown.

We may add that although a considerable quantity of valuables. especially from Die Union Bank, had lo be deposited in Die streets, yel Diaiiks t•) tho watchfulness of the police, no loss by theft lias been reported. Indeed, not only lo Die poiiee, but to men of at! classes and grades in the conimpniiy, thanks a.re duo for the manner in which they exerted themselves. In some instance, perhaps. over zealotisness was iwbre injurious titan inacDvity; but ihisrwill occur at any calamity kind.