FIRES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14275, 16 August 1910, Page 5

FIRES.

AN EXHIBITION DOOMED. T'l ess A s*cia tioii-By Telegrupli-Coj>y i i Received !) p.m., August 10th. BRUSSELS, August 10. A disastrous fire is raging in the exhibition; the British, French, timl>x other sections-are burning.

HOW THE FIRE STARTED. GREAT DESTRUCTION. LOSS OF PRICELESS EXHIBITS,

f| Received 10.51 p.m., August loth. jl BRUSSELS. August 15. 'j The fire is attributed to fireworks or r a short circuit of the electric wires. ■'• It began at 9 o'clock at night in the \ Belgian section facade on the eastern ~ side. The flames spread with cxtra- !! ordinary rapidity. Tlie wax manr.e----j quins of the Brussels' dressmakers aided it, and the building was soon an unbroken sheet of Haines. Thence the lire spread to the British portion, and both 'sections were consumed in fifty minutes. The exhibits lost include the Grading Gibbons' carvings, the Morlaix tapestries and priceless I'urniiure. and the Bradford tableaux showing the worsted industry. Only documents wore saved before the cry '• Sauve qui pout " was raided. The wind caused the- sparks to scattor everywhere. The ricnch, Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Spanish, Austrian •Japanese, auu. Clnnese seeuui.s involved, and the whole or the j eft side of the Avenue des Nations, also forty houses on the Avenue Solbosch j adjoining th o exhibition, were de- , stroyed. The sappers finally blew up | the buildings with melinite. The ma- | chinery hail is still threatened. Numerous thefts were reported, and an apache stabbed a soldier who was arresting him. Fortunately the public, were excluded from the buildings after 6 o'clock, but the grounds were filled with enormous crowds of people who were watching the fireworks. Tlie worst panic was on the grounds showing a reproduction of Old Brussels, where the hurrying crowds were bewildered by the maze ol old streets. These streets were destroyed, and it is reported that two persons were killed and thirty injured. The animals in Bostock's' show escaped, but wei-e afterwards shot.

DISTRESS AT TOKIO. TOKIO. August 15. One hundred and fifty thousand persons suffered by the lire. Little inconvenience was caused in the foreign quarters of the citv.

FOREST ON FIRE, PART? OF SETTLERS DOOMED. NEW YORK, August Jo. The forest fires in Northern Idaho are serious. Reinforcements are being hurriedly rushed to the district. A supply train with 36" men. is missing. A party of settlers, including wome"n and children, are surrounded at Squaw Creek, and their rescue is unlikelv.