The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-15 00:00:00

THE GREAT FIRE AT RANGOON.

An eye witness of the late fire at Rangoon has
favoured us with the following account :
On Monday, Dec. 10, the cry of fire was heard through
the town, and in a short time the inhabitants crowded
in numbers to witness the conflagration, and the Chris-
tian portion of them to assist in endeavouring to ex-
tinguish it. A fire had previously'broken out iu the
neighbourhood of the gaol, destroying about 100
huts, from which the authorities bad scarcely re-
turned when the ♦ery centre of the city, the site of
the valuable and extensive native trade of Rangoon,
was discovered to be in jeopardy, in consequenoe of a
fire having broken out immediately in the rear of this
side, and in the direction of which the wind unfortu-
nately was blowing at the time. The fire had crossed
the 100 feet road dividing the Mercantile-square from
the less important locality in which the fire originated,
and was creeping on to the pucka godowns of the
Mogul merchants, stored with piece goods and other
valuable merchandise. In less than an hour the fire
had seized on the temporary roof of bamboos and mats
of the first pucka godown, and the only alternative
was to endeavour to save its contents ; unfortunately,
however, there was but little assistance available.
The few Europeans and the authoriti es, civil and mi-
litary, did all in their power in assisting to drag out
piece goods, &o. ; but this proved useless, as the firs
spread so rapidly that the piles of goods, representing
in value hundreds of thousands of rupees, were after-
wards destroyed where they were deposited. The
thousands of Burmese present displayed their usual
indifference, and the police seemed snore bent on the
plunder than the protection of property. Several of
the peens were caught in the act of secreting valu-
ables. Such were the inefficient protective arrange-
ments that numerous instances were observed of ruf-
fians snatching money and valuables from the hands
of those endeavouring to save them, and escaping with
impunity.
A fire engine was brought from the Steam-yard, and
worked by the men of the 84th, but it was useless, from
there being little or no water.

The consequences of this calamity will be absolutely
ruinous to the trade, and especially to the native trade
of Rangoon; with few exceptions, nearly the whole of
the extensive and enterprising Mogul merchants are utter
bankrupts, unless speedy relief of some kind or other is
afforded them. Property to the amount of 30 lace of
rupees has been destroyed. The chief sufferers, and an
approximation to the amount of loss sustained by them,
are as follows :—Aga Ahmed bin Dhansnm, 2 lace ; Aga
Tuckee Shivajee, 1 lac ; Moolla Ibrahim, re. 80,000 ;
Mushadee Hassin and Shirajee, re. 60,000 ; Mushade
Jaduk, Hadjee Mendby, Aga. Abdoola Joorabjee,
Eduljso, and others, say re. 15,000 to 20,000.
The Europeans will of course come in for a share of
the losses, if not the principal share ; the smaller traders
as,well as the merchants who were burnt out being their
debtors to a large extent.
Omitting hosts of huts of smaller trading shops or
stable-keepers, there were !destroyed 14 large pucka
godowns, 180 plank houses, and 1300 bamboo houses.
Only one or two lives were reported to be lost.—Madras
A thencrum. •