A fire which broke out in the premises of a tea and sugar hong situated at 42 Rue Taken, shortly after 7.30 p.m. last night, threatened to take serious proportions, as that it had taken a firm hold in a large cargo stored on the premises, and it was only thanks to the prompt and efficient intervention on the part of Concession fire-fighters, that a major conflagration was prevented.
The actual battle against the flames made it necessary for the firemen to surmount a number of obstacles, in that the means of access to the actual blaze was rather difficult and the flames had to be fought from two separate points. Whilst a number of hoses were laid on from Rue Taken, another group of firemen entered through an alleyway off a side-street and the combined efforts of these two groups had eight big nozzles in action within a very short time after the arrival of the machines. Another obstacle that had to be surmounted was the distance over which hose had to be laid, there being no hydrant in the immediate vicinity of the building.
The blaze was declared under control shortly after 8 p.m. and, whilst fortunately there were no injured, ihe material damage caused by the outbreak was believed to be cou-siderable, a cargo of wall-nuts and sugar having been partially destroyed.
The German Consul General in Tunis, Herr Marschall von Biberstein, and his wife were fatally injured in a motor car accident which occurred on Monday night. The car in which the Consul General and his wife were driving, collided with another car about ten kilometres outside Tunis. The Consul General and his wife were conveyed in a grave condition to a hospital where they succumbed to their injuries a few hours later. A servant who was also-in the car escaped with slight injuries.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.