Thousands of bales of cotton were in danger of being completely destroyed when a fire broke out in the No. 4 hold of a British ship at Shanghai, at 11 am. yesterday. The fire assumed large proportions and at 11.30 p.m. flames were seen to be coming out of the hold where 4,000 bales ai Indian cotton were stored, The Har-hour Fire Brigade float, Poochi, ana the Shanghai Fire Brigade float an swered the call and fire-fighters work> ed hard to control the flames and to keep them from spreading te No. hold which also contained some 3,000 bales of cotton.
Although all precautions were being taken to stop the conflagration from spreading, it assumed larger and larger proportions and anxiety was felt for the whole ship as great difficulties were encountered in getting the fre under control, Breathing apparatus was used by the firemen to extinguish the flames which were spreading alarmingly, but the fire was finally brought under control at I p.m. Several thousand: of bales of cotton were considerably dampened to prevent their re-ignition. At 4 pam. the fire was finally extinguished, but one float remained as a precautionary measure, The ship, freighter, arrived a few days ago in Shanghai and had been discharging cargo at the Pootung Wharf when the fire broke out.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but sabotage is feared and a British naval patrol was rushed aboard the vessel as a precaution against any other emergency. The Customs authorities are investigating the cause of the fire, although the results of the investigations were not known late last night,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.