WELLINGTON'S DISASTER.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 12003, 22 October 1906, Page 4

WELLINGTON'S DISASTER.

The serious conflagration in the Empire City, involving a loss of at a least a hundred thousand pounds, is % misfortune which will call forth universal regret and sympathy. Though to us in Wanganui the disaster is divested somewhat of the natural sensations of awe with which the conflagration will be associated in th« minds of dwellers in the capital, nevertheless the feelings of our readers as they scan the details of the fire will be not lea* moved than those of the Wellingtoniane themselves. A mere expression of sympathy seoms inadequate on such an occasion, and even the most thoughtless and indifferent must bo filled with a seme of weakness and incapacity as they think of ttic appalling possibilities of a tire tuck as Ilia Empire City has experienced. Of the exact extent of damage done we hay« not yet trustworthy information, bnt the conjectures hazarded of a loss of at least a hundred thousand pounds ma; give torn* idea of the seriousness of the diaaat«r. Fortunately no lives have been lost, and this is a matter for sincere congratulation, more especially as there were several large accommodation houses destroyed in th« (Lie belt, including the Trocadero, the Commercial Hotel, and the Strand Cafe, from which hundreds of boarders had to scramble out. The fire seems to bare been smouldering fo& some time before it wsw discovered, and the fact that the outbreak occurred in a wooden building, and ihat a gale was blowing at the time, rendered the task of preventing it spreading a difficult one. The task, however, would not have, been impossible of accomplishment but for the fact that the water supply gave out, and we can imagine the feelings of the firemen in their heroic efforts when they found they were unable to obtain water and were helpless to cheok the spread of the fire. It seems strange that with all the modern precaution* taken to prevent the conflagration spreading, brick walls and brick buildings seem almost as powerless to r«aiat the rarages of a huge fire as the old wooden structures, and the moral would seem to be the necessity for still further restricting the us© of timber in building construction. Wellington's experience aIBO contains a moral for Wanganui. A suggestion w.is made here some time ago that as the Okehu supply had never been connected with the town mains, and a largely increased pressure of water for fire purpose* obtained, there was no longer any necessity to keep the fire engine. If for no other purpose than to hold it aa a stand-by in the event of a burst in the maius. the fire engine should be retained, for at any time our main water anpply might be cut off, as was Wellington's.