The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-22 00:00:00

TES GREAT FIRE IN TUE CITY,

A. elortr examination yeste:day of the track'of the recent
fire in Wood-street shows in a striking manner how much

it was confined to a class of buildings the interior arrange-

merits and means of communication of which appeal: to have
been made in defiance or in ignorance of the principles
which now regulate such matters, under the operation of
the Metropolitan Building Act. The warehouses and oiiicts
which have perid,ed seem to have been scparated from each
other by thin lath and• plaster partitions for the most part,
and only in one in*Aance was there an iron ricer letwstm.
one part of the interior of the same building arid anotlier,
j such as is now commonly uscd and made irnpuative, Lae( 0,

auocrotimonaniof.scalraahiOnlife,eas„ass
orTfiin2lTuhalLlo. raear of •
isilhuthtteire,7ol2
nebteffuoecti,:wpuihadieihn ruermreasitniusguntatjanareradews einuldthhaatvdeircba7ino completelyhat.
n. :rodn ~ioo•-•
penetrated by
it arrvputelnp,t.erda.bleTphouinutseinatfo
itriacue pfFpart of the
against fire was most conclusively proved by a very renaark-
able circumstance. The large and handsome warehouses of
Messrs. J. and R. Morley, situate at the corner of Gresham
and Wood-streets, overlooked by a large window on the
ground floor at the back the little court in which the fire
originated, and to which it was at first confined. This
large window was protected on the outside by a folding
iron shutter, and that more against robbery than fire.
On this occasion for some time the flames played fiercely,
but harmlessly about the outside of the window, so guarded
by the iron shutter. Had they once entered Messrs. Mor-
ley's premises at that point, the stock stored inside, and
estimated at from £250,000 to -£300,030, would inevitably
have been destoyed, if, indeed, the devastation wo
onuld
uch a
have
slender condition of safety did property almost fabulous in
value and belonging s
ended in that one vast pile of buildiugs. Up
to a single firm depend in this case.
The ruins, consisting for the most part of large masses of
charred timber, show how largely wood .rather than 'wick
had been used in the construction of the houses which have
perished. The fire, indeed, has literally followed in the
thatorth northern
tract of the combustible material, and on each side of th
gap which it has left huge cables of brick, some
peuuwppeorlseeadsttoolzheta3mo,o yreemarasinolsdt,anadnidugw.hiclht
italia
the elusion of
Mr. "Woodtherpe, the district surveyor of thr,
division of London, who visited the spot yesterdayn,
for those formidable old walls ;the nho,e
.mass of ware-
houses forming the east side of Wood.stre
of Milk-street, right up to Cheapside, and
er and the west
their contents some of the most including wit.
valuable tiamo.:a theta.lvcree
London, would have been destroyed, in the city of
c aptain Shaw, too,
the chief of the London Fire Brigade,
who was out far the
ancieus illness, and could not
first time after his recent dangerous
packed the conflagration
com-
paratively small an area
were brought resist the temptation to go
sec the place, expressed
his amazement that in a
A. been confined to so k, neighbourhood so densely
imminent risk
tilde with which the s' . The truth is that the prorapti-
numbsr,
materially checked
vigour with which into action, and the resist-
less'team fiz 0-engines, six or seven in
in spite of they played on thed fire,
dime_ ,
~, its progress from the first,
taan
only
through a few .011liiri"? experienced in finding
eaficer:en ithad 115;
courts and alleys. The
to nu
eever the tops of lofty
piles Of lIGUSeS bothsnduin Wood-street
th eir hose
ana
Milk-street,
and
through little by-wa s before the engines, 13 in all, could
be brought to bear ony the burning mass. Fortunately, the
trade books of Messrs. Grant, who are the largest sufferers
were preserved intact in an iron safe on their premises; but
about 300 people to whom they gaveemployment have been
suddenly thrown oat of work. The firm is understood to be
insured to the amount of £37,000, that sum being spread
over eight different insurance offices. Their stock consisted
mostly of underclothing of all hinds, shirts, neckties, um-
brellas, and parasols, of all which they were msnufactuiers
on a large scale. ln one room alone on the third floor they
had 1,200 dozen. of fine flannel shirts stored, all of which
have been burnt. They occupied four large warehouses, four
stories high, two of which have been completely destroyed,
with their valuable contents. Messrs. Morley, notwith.
standing the risk they ran, did not suffer to an extent at all
commensurate with the loss sustained by Messrs. Grant. It
is true their shirt factory, with many valuable machines,
has been burnt, but it was not a place in which they kept.
any very considerable quantity of stock, and they only esti.•
mate their loss, which is covered by insurance, at about
£4,000 or £5,000. An underground communicationexisted
between the shirt factory which has been destroyed
another part of their extensive premises, and there, and
safety afforded by an iron door which shut too, the
from the other in the subterranean passage off
one Pia"
by the result. A considerable amount of salvia
established
collected from among the ruins of 1- " vage was Using
houses yesterday; but of Messrs. m jeS2rB Grant's ware-
contents, or of the stocks of Mr. orley's factory and its
and Mr. Gibson, the other suffer Bunting, Messrs. livni y,
. ers, not a vestige remains.

THE LANCASIIIII.I.: COAL TRADE.—WIGAN, Sat ur-
day.--The district seems at last about to return to Et
peaceful state, the advance of 10 per cent. asked by the men
havb‘g been granted in many instance= it being nude!:
satf°te° tihnetifnecathreesT tillimaiti.lll.lge
up
pLdditiGnal wages u•ia be
..17!
The 1:-3.'10 during the week has(llYentørtcnl':.e.ir'ktab°lf):.jigavon:im,;.l:_;::::.
quantity of coal despatched being really surprising
iild. a
the state of the cotton trek is considered
in
part-Lain brisk, and the
dtphnaasltlt
iffir:eNsfvcelxt3trteemanraosi,eitcliest,wllohtuodwe erLiverpool,ivveiri,y r ir
ETI
ethi:::_rvinh: trade,
ring ant
hcho
ontributz:s very
number of intnaces in blast in the
considerablyt,hpaveetscoofmthp leettmeeli thewinter
terreicanorcevreev;yd.
from
now:: el°,lr,
go-.
extent the evils of the still gt
the improvement here will,
manufacture, rders. Tile pro•
i,eems to
the long depression, and
.10t
Qius
iyhocpotnAti.,
ticounteract
eto
esootitil