Soon after nine o'clock yesterday morning a telephone message was received at the Central Police Station from Government House stating that the Government Buildings were on fire. On receipt of this rather alarming news the Fire Brigade, under the Hon. F. H. May and Mr. Corcoran, turned out in full force and in an almost incredibly short time they were at the scene of the outbreak, while a large staff of police, under Inspector Baker, also promptly turned out. Happily the fire was not in itself serious, but it was quite serious enough, for if it had gained a few moments' more headway it is most probable that a considerable part of the Offices would have been destroyed. The fire was caused by the upsetting of a pot of tar which was being boiled on the roof of the verandah near the south-east corner of the building. For some time past considerable repairs have been in progress to the entire roof of the structure, and the work had so far been completed that the tiles were being coated with tar, the said tar being boiled in a pot on the top of the roof in close proximity to the workmen. We do not know whether the head officials were ignorant of this highly dangerous procedure, or whether they acquiesced in it in order to' facilitate the progress of the work by saving the Chinese coolies the trouble of taking the boiling liquid from the ground to the roof, but be that as it may, it is to be hoped the practice will be at once stopped. As soon as the pot overturned, the tar caught fire and xan under the tiled roof and instantly set the rafters ablaze. With as auch haste as possible two messengers and two coolies got out the fire hose from the despatch box which is always kept in the building, and with the assistance of two or three overseers in the Public Works Department, they played a plentiful supply of water upon the burning material. Volumes of smoke issued from the roof and attracted the attention of Sergeant Collinson, who was on duty at Government House, and he immediately telephoned tothe Central Police Station.
Soon after the outbreak, the Hon. F. A. Cooper, Mr. H. P. Tooker, Overseers Coyle and Pearson, and Quartermaster-Sergeant Watling were on the spot and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.