DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 187, 17 June 1879, Page 2

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT WELLINGTON.

ENORMOUS DESTRUCTION. ABOUT £50,000 WORTH OF PRO' PERTY DESTROYED. ■ (From tho Now Zealand Times, June 16.; One of tho most disastrous fires whicli has yet been expovienoed in Wellington, if not in the colony, broke out at about 8 o'clock yesterday evening in Mannersstreet. The fire commenced in the Imperial Opera House,' the precise locality, as far as we can at present ascertain, being between the dome and the uppei circle, though how it originated is'a matter of uncertainty. Three men who were in the building at the time began playing upon the flames with a hose that is kept on the premises, but this effort on their part was futile to arrest the progress of the devouring element, whicli quickly broke out on the roof. By this time the alarm had been given, and the brigades, ivilli .their rueli, were quicklv on the spot, r.ocommniod by immense crowds of people. Some amdproVte time elapsed before t!u hosemeii'couid gut a #an) of water directed upon the burning building, andwhuji they did i he pressure was not strong enough to forci) the jet sufficiently high to reach the burning roof. Attention was then diicctcd to a lower 'building adjoining the Working Men's Club, Stratford's corn store, and by means of ladders the firemen sealed the roof of this place, and thence ascended to the roof of the Club and Opera House. Hoses wero tljon lm)¥ to the top by ropes, and for some time as gopd [t stream as the Brigades could command was directed upon the burning roofs, the fire having by this time spread to the roof of the Club. At this time numerous willing hands were engaged moving furniture and othei goods out of the three buildings named, the furniture of the Club being taken to t)}o yard of the Wesleyan Church opposite. Mr Joyce, stage manager of the company under engagement at t ie Opera House, worked hard to save tlie wardrobe, and in doing so lie had a narrow escape of losing liis life, for lie fell down and was nearly suffocated by the smoke. It soon became apparent that it was impossible to ijavo the burning buildand an effort was then made tp prevent the fire, from-spreading to otjiei buildings in the immediate vicinity, the Wesleyan Church and the branch Bank of New Zealand being threatened, To prevent this the firemen began playing upon these and other buildings, but the feeble stream of water was insufficient for this purpose, and the upper portion of the steeple of the Wesleyan Church igniting, the fire soon spread to the other portions 'of the edifice, the whole of which was speedily wrapt in flames, The roofs of the surrm)i)di))g buildings also caught shortly afterwards, the firp spreading towards Dixon and Cuba-streets. The flames i}rose to a considerable height, and threw out an i .

intensii heat, which was felt for some distance, their illuminating power being also very great. The crowds which' assembled were immense, every possible) v.antage ground being covered with spectators, while numerous were,the, assistants at the all-important work of checkingthe progress of the conflagration.; Others again, were engaged in the removal ,of/'household gods" from threatened habitations, many of these goods being seriously damaged by the handling which they received. The police were present in large force, and did good service, Sergeant Price cut off the service pipe leading from the gas-main to the Opera House, and plugged it up, thus preventing the flames from being fed by the gas. The fire was ultimately checked at Duff and Houghton's Wellington Coach Factory, but not beforea considerable quantity of goods was damaged there, The To Aro grocery store had a narrow escape of being destroyed, and this was also tho case with Smith's Te Aro House, only the determined manner in which the numerous helps worked to prevent their being ignition being the means of saving them, On the latter house there were between thirty and forty people (amongst them being a number of Naval Brigade men) constantly engaged in throwing water by means of buckets upon a large number of blankets which had been spread upon the more exposed portion of the buildings, and in a right-of-way between the Dixon-street school and a private house another posse of workers prevented the fire from spreading up Dixon-street by keeping the latter tenement well wetted. The members of tho two fire brigades were very energetic in their work, and at times displayed an amount of bravery bordering uppn recklessness, but we could not help remarking in common with many of the bystanders that their zeal was occasionally misdirected and they appeared to bo under no responsible leadership. Between seventy and eighty Naval Brigade men were present at tlfo fire, and worked very hard for the common good. ' Adverting to the scarcity of water upon the occasion of last night's fire, wo are reminded that some time ago Dr Diver, in the City Council, advocated the purchase of'a iioating steam fire engine, the advantages of which, in the event of fire, are sufficiently obvious to- need no comment from us. This proposal was, however, objected to by Councillors Fisher and Allen on tho score of expenso; but had these Councillors foreseen such a disaster as it is now our duty to record, chiefly through the scarcity of water, we imagine they would have been less strongly opposed to such a desirable expenditure of civic funds. Of the property destroyed, the value is roughly estimated at £50,000 'i detailed list of which will be found in (ut: telegraphic columns, The Imperial Opera House was insured in the New Zealand and Soutli British offices for £OBOO, the risk being supposed to be equally divided betweer the two. This building was only opened in May last year, its total cost beinc £10,459, made up as follows: —Cost o! building, £7732 ; stage fittings, £753 decorationsand scenery, £709; gas-fittings etc., £490; stall and house fittings ant furniture, £773. The Wesleyan Clmrcl is believed to be uninsured, the risk, how ever, being provided for, if we are not mis taken, by a fund established for such con tingencies, Tho branch Bank iof Nov Zealand was also uninsured, althougl there was an insurance formerly upon tlx building. The safes of this bank were, wi believe, in the vaults beneath the building and if so cun be recovered, Miss Beatrice the popular actress, lost all hor jowollerj by tho destruction of the Opera House and it was also rumored that three horse: had been burnt in the Nag's Head stables A painful report was also circulated to tin effect that a man who was on the roof o the Opera House when it fell in disap peared amongst the burning ruins, butwi hope this rumor will not be substantiated One o'clook a.m. The firemen are still busy in keeping th burning debris from doing any furthe damage. About half-past twelve one o tho beams of Stratford's corn store cann down with a terriflic crash, and a by stander had a narrow escapo, as it fel close to whero. he was looking on. i quarter of an hour afterwards an alarn of fire was given, and Supcrintenden Whiteford and a party of men immediate! proceeded up Cuba-street, When the; had got about 100 yds. it was discovers that only a chimney at the rear of M Hannah's boot shop was the cause of th alarm, There was no-clanger whatever and the flames wero quickly extinguished The conduct of tho young man win stood on the top of tho verandah at T Aro House, and stuck to his post, hose ii hand, through volumes of smoke am clouds of sparks, has been spoken of yen highly by all who saw him. We believi he°is a young man named Price, who ha charge of the show room at Te Aro House and who has been in Mr Smith's emplo; for a considereble time, It was reported that a man . had bcei killed at the Imperial Opera House; bu so far as our reporters could learn from i lar»e number number of firemen, inclu ding Superintendent Whiteford, there wa> no truth in the rpior. He was informed however, that one of the Wellington Fin Brigade had got struck with an axe, anc that another had fallen a distance of abou 15 feet; the latter got considerably burnt and his face, we regret to hear, suffera severely from the fall,. We aro glad to b< able to state that these are the onlj casualties of any importance, so far as wi could ascertain. Considerable damage was done to tin well-known grocery establishment, oppo site Te Aro House, owned by Mr. White house, and also to Te Aro House, most o the windows of which will want renewing So far as can be ascertained, neithei grocery nor drapery stock received raucl injury, Mr, Nicholson endeavored to re move his stock, and it must have recehet considerable damage ; and the same re marks will apply, we believe, to Mr, C Smith's drapery establishment. At the first going off a large quantity o the furniture belonging to the Workin; Men's Club was saved, and nearly all thi steward's furniture, which latter was unfortunately, uninsured ; but as tin greater portion was removed to the yan belonging tp the Wesleyan Ohurch, v suffered tho general fate, The billiard tables Jiad to lie left to their 1 destiny, ai some of tho members who were in the ac of unscrewing them received peremptory orders to leave the building, as it was n< longer safe, Messrs Hickman, Simeon Hid Warcup succeeded in removing theii itock to a place of safety, Neither Mi Simeon nor Mr Warcup had his stock in mred, we believe, The Wesleyan Clmrcl md School were: not insured in any of thi .ocal offices, but we understand that then ,s a general fund, into which a certaii (mount is paid by all the churches belong ng to that body. Miss Beatrice, too, wai mfortunate in losing her jewellery, as she eft it at the Imperial Opera House or Saturday night, as was her general custon lince see has been hero. Tho orchestr< nanaged to secure their instruments ant nusic, the piano being also successfullj 'pinoved.