A fire which, had it been allowed to spread, might easily have destroyed th block at the corner of Foochow Road and the Bund was discovered about 4.45 a.m. on Friday. From his bedroom window Mr. A. P. Stokes—who lives over the!
of Messrs. Caldbeck, Macgregor saw that the silk room of Messrs, Olivier et Cie., next door, was afire. He atone awoke his messmates, Br, R. B. Allen and Mr. N. J. Stabb, and while the latter rushed off to get a hose, the former rang up the Central Police Station and told them of the fire. Cnfortunately, the must have been some mistake either in giving or receiving the message, for nu alarm was given and: the Brigade did not turn out. Mr. Allen then rejoined Mr. Stokes, and together they threw buckets of water across the alley-way into the windows of the silk-room, which had} cracked open with next.' Mr. Stab, meanwhile, had found Mr. K. J. McEuen, and together they secured a spare hose from the Delage truck-house, which they dragged to the scene of the fire. They attached it toa hydrant, passed it through the house to Mr. Allen, and in the course of mother half-hour the fire was out. The cause of the fire imagined to be the careless dropping of a spark on the silk, which must have shouldered for some time. The damage done is estimated at about Ts. 5,000, which is fully covered by insurance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.