FIRES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14063, 22 November 1909, Page 5

FIRES.

GREAT BLAZE IN SYDNEY. COAL BINS DESTROYED. ENORMOUS DAMAGE DONE. Press Assocaation-By Telegraph-Copyrigbt ' Received 5.5 p.m., Nov. 21st. SYDNEY, Nov. 20. Saxon's coal binns and timber yards, which covered an area of eight acres, were destroyed by lire to-day. Of the area named the lire swept four acres, destroying enormous stocks of timber, estimated at, 7,000,000 feet, and a great quantity of valuable machinery, also 600 feet of the wharf. Mr Saxon estimates the damage at £70,000, only £20,000 being covered by insurance. Between four hundred and five hundred employees are idle. A lighter belonging to the firm was also destroyed. Another lighter, the property of Buckle and Company, caught fire, but was scuttled and sank. Gray Bros., carriers, had 70 horses stabled near the outbreak, but they were liberated safely after a scene of wild excitement. The carts and harness were destroyed. The liremen made good efforts to save the property. The fire was one of the fiercest and most rapid seen in Sydney. It was a hard fight, but the whole force of the brigades prevented a much more serious disaster, the whole block at one time appearing to be doomed. COTTAGE DESTROYED. Per Press Association. NAPIER, Nov. 21. A four-roomed wooden residence in the right-of-way o(f Bower street, was gutted by fire at 10 o'clock last night in the absence of .fames Snoswell, tire occupier, who had left everything safe. The building was owned by Mrs J. Griffin, and was insured for £250 in the Norwich Union. Mr Snoswell had an insurance of £135, in the State office on the furniture and effects.