The Hawaiian gazette., 1877-12-26
THE GREAT FIRE.!
ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.
Detailed Account of Losses and
Insurance.

confagration of week ago, to enable us to |
ascertain with considerable accuracy the ex-
tent of the loss and its distribution. The |
total amount of property destroyed as nearly |
as can be estimated is not far from S25O,O00, |
of which not much more than one-fourth is |
covered by insurance. We have made careful |
inquiries of the various parties involved in |
this calamity, and have received from them
the following information;
Messrs Wilder & Co. state that their loss is
merely nominal; perhaps one or two hundred |
dollars. The coal, mentioned in our last as
belonging TO them, had been sold, and the loss
falls on the purchaser. Messrs. II. Hackfeld
& Co state their loss at $500, on which |
there is 5000 insurance. The loss of the Pa
ciic Mail S. S. Co. seems to be matter of
some doubt, depending, as it does, on the
amount of coal that can be saved. The Id
rert'ser on Saturday last pnr the loss of the
Company at $4,000, while Messrs. Hackfeld
s. Co. are disposed to limit it to some 200
tons, worth about $4,000. Time alone will
tell how much of the coal can be finally saved
and how much il will be worth Our own
opinion, however, is that the estimate of
Messrs. II. H. & Co. is much TOO low Messrs
Allen & Robinson put their loss at $4,000,
consisting of lumber, sashes, blinds, paints,
oils, etc, on which there was an insurance Of
81 900; while the heirs of the Robinson Es-
tate lose two buildings valued at $4,000,
which were not insured Messrs. W. G. Irwin
& Co. had property destroyed amounting in
all to about 500, 600 Most of this was stored
in the government warehouse and on the
wharf, and was entirely uninsured. 1t con-
sisted of oil, machinery, etc., and was mostly
held on account of various coasismors, on
whom the loss falls and not on Messrs. Irwin
& Co. Messrs. Green, Macfarlane & Co. lost
machinery, hoop iron, cement, etc, to the
value of about s. 900, which was Insured for
I $4,000. The most fortunate of all the parties
having large interests in the fire, was Mr.. T.
| II. Davies who had property of various kinds
destroyed belonging 10 himself and parties for
whom he is agent, TO the amount of S26, 900,
| all OF which is fully covered by insurance.
Among the property held by Mr.. Davies and
stored in the government warehouse, was 254
bales t265 900 lbs of Niihau wool, all of which
was destroyed.
A. S. CIeghorn s. Co.'S loss of 81 800 was also
fully insured. The value of the government
! property destroyed wharves,
etc.-can hardly be less than 500, 600, on
which of course there is no insurance The
heaviest loss falling on any one individual is
in the case of Mr.. j. A. Hopper, whose estab-
lishlnent is entirely destroyed The value of
Mr.. Hopper's machinery, tools, fixtures and
stock is put down by him at S44 900, in addi-
tion TO which he had between S5 900 and &c.
600 worth of rice destroyed in the Government
warehouse. His insurance, as previously
stated, is 81 200. The engine and boiler be-
ing located in detached buildings with thick
walls and corrugated iron roofs, escaped with
but slight damage. This will reduce Mr.
Hopper's loss some $4,000. Still more unfor
tunate in some respects is Mr.. J. H Bruins
His loss, it IS true, is less, being about $4,000
but his establishment is totally destroyed, and
he has not dollar of insurance The wooden
building burned on the opposite side of Fort
street, belonged to Messrs. West & Chayter
who were not insured they lose about $500
1t was occupied as cooperage by Mr. Cook
Whose loss we were unable to learn. Mr. E
P. Adams lost about 81 300, of which 81 500
was insured. In addition to the above the fol
lowing list of losses is reported, on which
there is no insurance: 7. Harrison, 50, 900
Levers & Dickson, $500; Phillips and
Co., 81, 500; Castle & Cooke, SI,lO0; Hy-
man Bros. $500: F. A. Schaefer & Co., $500
Aswan, $500 and J. l. Dowsett, 81, ,O00 The
loss of the last named party is in stables, fire.
wood, etc. His horses and drays were saved
In the case of Messrs. Castle s. Cooke and F
A. Schaefer g. Co. the goods burned belonged
to parties for whom these houses we're acting
as agents and consignees. In both instance.
the loss falls on the principals and not on tn,
agents.
A careful investigation on the part of til,
NJ arshal has failed to elicit any clue 20 tht
, origin of the fire. The generally accepted
theory is that it originated from lighted c
gar or a match being carelessly thrown anon:
the combUstibe rubbish in the rear of tn,
stores of Messrs. Green, Macfarlane & Co. O.
Mr.. E. P. Adams. We shall probably neve
: know anything more about it. The amount o
territory burned over is some five or six acres
in extent, comprising tract about one thous
= and feet long on Fort street, by average o
: two hundred feet or more in width. Til,
steamer wharf is completely burned away, tn
e charred stumps of the piles projecting abov,
5 the water, being all that Is visible w
= understand il is the intention of the govern
ment to locate the steamer landing in futur
at the foot of the Esplanade, nearly opposit
Fort street, and that the necessary sheds ant
other buildings will probably be erected a
that point. In this case the portion of tn
water front occupied by the old steamer whar
will be reconstructed to serve as u landing
place for schooners.