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EIRE AT EDITHBUBGH,'
Edithburgh, January 10. '
There was a. large fire here last night at
a result of wiich part of the sheds . belong
ing to the Castle Salt Co-operative Cora
panv were burnt to the ground. The -alarm
'vas first given at about 11 p.m. by Messrs.
Wk Wright and W. Fleetwood, who resid«
close to the property. It did not take Ions
for the general alarm to spread, and there
were soon a large number of men on the
spot. The manager of the woffis (Mr. W.
Baker) was notified immediately, and was
-x-on on the scene of the fire, directing ta« _'
willing workers. All their efforts wer« --''' . :*
centred in the endeavor, to save the factory,
whicli object was eventually achieved.
It is the duty of the night watcbnmr t-j '
get the fires in the boilers lighted on Sun- '--,
cay, so as to r.ave steam up for tbe workers
to commence again at midnight. On that
account the' engineer (Mr. E. J. Matthews). .
was able to get the steam pump to work at-
most straight away. The water from tho
hose was soon playing on the fire. Seve
ral lines of men were also formed in the
'factory, and by this means thousands o£ ;
buckets of water were conveyed to the most
necessary place to prevent the fire spread
ing into the factory The engineer blew,
the whistl'. and by this means people from
all directions came to the scene.
The sheds, which were built of iron and -
wood, covered n large area of ground. Thew
were used chiefly for storing empty bagi
and salt. On Saturday 100 bales of new
bags were placed in the sheds as they had
arrived by the ketch that day. Thes«
alone were worth close on £1,000. Beside*
these bags there were thousands of small 1
cwt. bags, used for refined salt. There was
also a patent elevator used for conveying
coal from the truck to the stack. This waa
erected only a few months ago, and it was
totally destroyed.
Adjoining part of the shed stands Messrs.
McGlew & Co.'s store. This was in great
danger for some considerable time, but the
eiiorts .of the men saved- it. There were
a few hundred bags of wheat in the store,
and these were soon conveyed to the
street by willing hands. The Bkfrting board
of the factory caught alight several times*,
but the flames were soon 'extinguished by
those keeping watch. The night was very
wild, a strong wind oic:ving almost direct
from the south. This w; , very fortunate,
for had the wind been blowing in any other
direction nothing would have saved the
1 whole place. The strong wind carried large
j pieces of lighted t ^s all over the place.
Consequently the premises on the opposiwa
| side of the street were in danger of catch
in : alight.
Mr. George Jordan, who lives opposite
the sheds, let loose all his horses, as at
| times his premises were in danger. Num
bers of men kept a keen watch on the fly
ing fire, and thug preventeu another out
break elsewhere. There is no clue yet as to
how the fire orig'nated. Mr. S. Johnson,
who passed the sheds at 10.30 p.m., noticed
a smell of something burning, but he saw
no signs of fire. Too much praise cannot
: be given to the men for the way in which
they worked. It did not matter, .whttner
they were employed by the company or not.
Everybody lent a willing hand, and did his
utmost to help in saving the valuable pro
| perty menaced. At times great nerve was
required to throw the bags back on account
of the smoke and heat. The fire is still
burning furiously in places, but as long as
, the wind does not change it is not expected
j that any further damage will be done. It
is estimated that the damage amounts- to
£3.000.
At 9 p.m. the fire was still burning furi
ously. The wind1 haa been blowing strongly
all day, carrying with it pieces of lighted
bag iu all directions. A gang of men and
boys are ob tbe lookout with wet bags, and
by this means have so far prevented further
outbreaks. Whilst the men were bard at
work last night several ladies thoughtfullsi
provided1 tea and refreshments, which were
very acceptable and beneficial to the tiretf
workers.
On Monday last a baby was born in th«
Port Lincoln train while it was on its
journey.
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