DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8994, 3 December 1907, Page 5

DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.

THE MELBOURNE OUTBREAK. DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT. Received December 2, 8.50 a.m. MELBOURNE, December 2, The fire which broke out at 10 o'clock on Saturday evening in CI irk's fancy goods importers warehouse, in Elizabeth Street, <tnd destroyed a number of buildings, raged for hours and threatened to demolish the whole block bounded by Elizabeth, Lonsdale, Swanston and Little Bourke Streets. __ The fire started in a blind alley among a great pile of packing cases and straw packed up against the rear portion of Clark and Co.'s warehouse. '. Floor after floor of the warehouse gave way. The fire dtfied the efforts of the brigade for some hours. ■ When Clark's was a mass of firo. and the blaze had steered northward, a great crest of flame swept over to the money order office in the Post Office block. > The walls of Clark's fell, and the small shopv-Jfrneath became a mass of red hot &™cs and blazing timber. With this crash went the relies of early Melbourne. These shops, which cracked like eggshells, were built in 1844. The wind fortunately changed to the south, and the pressure on the post office was relieved. NARROW ESCAPE OF THE HOSPITAL. ESTIMATED LOSS £IOO,OOO. Received December 3, 12.25 a.m. MELBOURNE, December 2. The hospital was in grave danger from fire for some time, but a force of artillery quenched the burning particles as they fell on the buildings. At one time the window screens of the operating theatre were on fire. An amended estimate of the loss is approximately £IOO,OOO. The Federal Government had no insurance on their property.

THE FIRE AT LONGREACII. DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT £40,000. 1 Received December 2, 10 a.m. BRISBANE, December 2. For the£*iird time in a decade the hiiainess'Ajfltion. of Longreaeh has been swepWay fire. The fire broke out in a paint shop, and spread with great rapidity. A large quantity of explosives in one store, together with an acetylene generator, exploded, shattering windows in the vicinity. The Imperial Hotel, which was one of the finest country hotels in Queensland, costing £IO,OOO, was among the places destroyed. The damage is estimated at £40,000. OUTBREAK IN WEST MELBOURNE. EIGHT SftOPS • DESTROYED. Received December 2, 10 a.m. MELBOURNE, December 2. A block of eight two-storeyed shops was destroyed by fire in West Melbourne.