DISASTROUS FIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 18, 21 June 1913, Page 5

DISASTROUS FIRE.

BIG BLAZE NEAR AUCKLAND. KEMPTHORNE PROSSER'S WORKS DESTROYED. Per Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. The chemical works of Kempthorne, Prosser and Co., situated by the railway line at Westfield, eight miles from Auckland, were destroyed by lire between 1.30 and daylight this morning. The works were the largest, and practically the only ones, of the kind in New Zealand. Although no official estimate of damage is yet available, it will certainly run into thousands of pounds. The only section of the works which was still standing at midday was the brick area, comprising about a third of the buildings as they stood before the lire occurred. Even the brick area was still seriously threatened. About three years ago the. company spent several thousands of pounds in adding to the buildings and works, the brick portion being one of the recent additions. Insurances on the buildings, stock and iittings total £15,300, but these do not approach the full value of the works and their contents. An area of about two acres was covered by the buildings, which were mostly of one storey, but certain portions, containing the acid chambers, were of a higher elevation. The outbreak was discovered by a workman in the vicinity of the sulphur chamber. A crowd of a hundred', people were quickly on the scene, doing everything possible, but the water supply failed, and little could be done. The volume of flame was at its greatest height between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Very soon after the fire took a thorough hold of the wooden building tlie roofs fell in with a succession of crashes, and the sound of falling beams, machinery, etc., came frequently from within. Several railway trucks which were standing on a siding immediately in front of the main building caught fire, and as they were loaded with manures, etc., it was realised that it was inevitable < that the damage to them would materially add to, the loss occasioned by the fire. However, little could be done to extinguish them. Another alarming development was the extension of the .fire.to the tallow vats of Hellabys, Ltd., which stood oh an elevation at the side of this firm's brickbuilding,, immediately adjoining the manure works. Very soon the vat structures gave way,-and a big volume of hot liquid tallow poured forth., The tallow inundated the immediate vicinity,* and trickled freely down the railway lines towards Westfield station, which is just opposite the site of the doomed works. Men were engaged during the forenoon in scooping up the lost tallow, which by that time had cooled and caked, settling between the rails. | The burning railway trucks are being i,kept under hoses, and it is expected that I not more than four or five of them, toj'gether with their contents, will be deI stroyed. It is understood that Hellabys, Ltd., will sustain a loss of about £IOOO as a result of their burned vats and lost ,tallow. Fortunately their main buildings escaped damage. Insurances on the buildings, stock and fittings total £15,300, allocated amongst nine insurance offices as follows:—Union Assurance Society, £1000; Ocean Insurance Company. £1000: Commercial Union, £2500; National Insurance Company, £500; South British Insurance Company, £2000; Stamford -Insurance Company, £750; Lloyds Company, £3800; New Zealand Insurance Company, £1500; Northern Assurance Company, £2250.