FIRE IN BROADWAY.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 2 December 1881, Page 2

FIRE IN BROADWAY.

. + — ftpefton since its settlement has suffered many calamities by fire and flood, but the terrible visitation of Wednesday morning last-, will be long remembered as by far tbe most disastrous tbat has yet befallen tbe town. Tbe amount of pro* perty destroyed can hardly yet be accurately stated, bat one of the best business portions of the town bas been laid iv ruins, and to add horror to the catastrophe human life has been sacrificed. How the fire occurred is a mystery that will probably never be cleared up, and therefore whatever suspicion there may be, if there is any at all, as to its origin, it will remain' as an aggravation of the misfortune. So far as can be ascer« tamed the fire was first] seen at about 2.30 a.m. Tbe employees of this paper left the office at ten minutes past 2 o'clock, and five minutes later passed Dawion's Hotel, but did not notice any indication of fire. Five or ten minutes afterwards, Mr Walter Williams was in the act of closing the side-door of bis hotel and retiring for tbe night when he noticed an illumination in the direction of Finlay's bakery. He at once raised the alarm, and was followed by tbe nigbtwatchman who ran to the fire-bell. In afcout two minutes time an immense sheet of flame shot up from Finlay's ! building, and by tbe time the first per* sons reached the scene, tbe fire had obtained a firm hold, and bad already extended to, tbe adjoinjqg premises. Mr Dawson with Mr George Edwards were talking at tbe bar of Dawson's Hotel, when the first alarm was given, and run* ning at once into the street saw tbat the fire was only a few doors off, and Mr Finlay was standing on the footpath in front of bis shop, bafing apparently just escaped from the building. The hose* reel was got out quickly enough, but there was a deal of delay and confusion in getting the fire -engine down and into position, and by the time it was brought into play the fire had spread to Dawson's Urge ball on tbe one side and Dunn's furniture establishment oo tbe oth,er. By this time the heat was intense, and although two jets were played upon the fire, it was at once obvious tbat the flames had the mastery, and tbe brigade was utterly powerless to check the pro* gresa of the conflagration. With mistaken and utterly useless persistency however, (be members continued to play upon the fire, but without producing tbe slight* est result, for tbe flames steadily advanced to the hall, raising a blaze such as twenty such jets of water could not sub* due. In a few seconds more dense volumes of black smoke broke through the upper storey windows of Dawnon's Hotel, and this presently ignited with a terri6c explosion, and was immediately changed into a torrent of fire, and tbe doom of the tinge building was sealed. Bat the. brigade still confined their exertions to playing upon the fire, and it was not until some six or seven buildings had fallen to the flames that it entered the head of some person to get tbe grapnel and axes to work, and endeavor by tbat means to make a breach by pulling down the fronts of the threatened buildings. But here again judgment was lamentably at fault, fnr i jstead of going one or two booses ahead of the fire, operations were directed to those either already bla z ; ne or in immediate danger, with the result tbat the exertions were utterly futile, and one after the other Corbett's bakery, Dank's Hotel, and Colling's boot-hbop were devoured in quick succession. At t|ie letter place a right-of-way, some 10 or 15ft wide intervened and here chance interposed tbe one needed barrier to the progress of tbe fire. Between FinlayV and the end of the block in the opposite direction three shops intervened and as no effort whatever was made either by the brigade or public to stay the course of the fire in tbat direction, they were quickly consumed. At the time when Dawson's Hotel and Hall were in flames the spectacle was something to be remembered, and tbe beat was so intense that it was for a time impossible to stand on tbe opposite side of the street, and those who were engaged in throwing water on the front of Ching's store and Cocbrane's Hotel, though they stuck to their work with heroic fortitude, were for a few seconds driven off, but though the huildings were on fire several times, they were saved, wholly by the exertions of Mr T. I<ee, Mr Reid of the telegraph office, Mr Chiug and the Messrs Cochrane. Within ten or fifteen minutes of the ringing of tbe fire-bell several hundred people had reached tbe scene of tbe fire, and tbe scene in Brodway was past all description. From one cud of the block to tbe other the occupants assisted by scores of willing hands were pouring out tbeir stock on to the opposite side of the street, and in the midst of tbe most indescribable confusion and the wildest excitement of screaming and half frantic persons a small number of the brigade were struggling in seeming disorder to get the. engine into ploy, but there is no denying' the fact that there was a great ■want of discipline. It may be mentioned however, that tbe properly of several leading members of the bri. grde was threatened by tbe fire, and it is a nice point to decide whether the duty they owed to tbe brigade or to themselves ought to have been uppermost. But it is certain that both the captain of tbe brigade and several of his men clid give themselves the benefit of

tbe doubt, and we shall not pretend to BO y whether or not they are to be blamed for so doing. The effect however was to throw tbe brigade into complete dis* organisation, rendering it next to use ■ less. A l«rge qiantity of stock and furm'tore was saved from all the places but Davrson's, and HampsoD'i, the fori saving about £500 worth, but the latter lost every thing. Most of the stock in Dunn's was saved, Fiblay bad little or no stock in, and tbe heaviest losers were therefore Dawson, Danks Hampson, and Dunn, the two latter being wholly uns insured. The saddest feature of the whole a fair is the terrible fate of poor ' Alsted.the circumstances of whose death are elsewhere reported,