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be no doubt, but their efforts were almost useless so widespread was the calamity. In Mr Schmidt's (the gun maker's) house there were a number of cartridges, and thess were at once got out, everything else being lost. Before 2 a.m. the fire had extended its ravages eastward as far as the P, & 0. gate, where its progress was fortunately stayed. The godowns however were not out of danger. At 10 minutes past a o'clock the first charge of powder was ex- ploded, and a house at the corner of the Wellington and Peel Streets brought to the ground. The fire was gradually creeping towards Mesara Vogel Hagedorn & Ôo,'s premises, the laurs at the rear, most of which where filled with firewood, burn- ing at a white heat, the whole being in one mass of flame. The Praya and the upper roads were all Alled with goods of every conceivable description, and the thieves bad it all their own way, it was in fact wholly impossible for the police to have done more than they did; as it was 150 or 200 men were arrested. Two more houses were blown down in Peel Street bafore 4 o'clock, and subsequently many others. The fire had complete mastery of the town, and was creeping slowly but surely up the hill as far as Gage Street, weeping away the whole block of houses between it and Cochrane Strost. The fire then travelled along Lyndhurst Terrace, Through Stanley Street to the New Civil Hospital which caught fire at past 9 o'clock. Part of it was blown down to prevent the flames from reaching the Cen- tral, and at noon or shortly afterwards the Civil Hospital was a Leap of ruins. Al though it continued to burn for long after- wards, and the Police Station had to be carefully watched to prevent the flames spreading further in that direction. detachment of the 74th was told off to guard the Gaol in case of accident. The Station Yard was full of all sorts of furni- ture and property of every description. Numbers of Europeans were drunk owing in a measure to the festive season, and partly to the opportunites afforded them of obtaining the wherewithall, and some very disgusting and many amusing sights was the necessary result. A deal of looting was carried on by both Europeans and Chi- nese, who, not content with enriching them- selves by the misery of others, went straight to the Police Station and robbed Mr Creagh's and the Inspectors' quarters, in one instance carrying off a cheat of drawers bodily; not content with this some then set to work and wilfully and maliciously destroyed all they could lay their hands upon. The patients from the Civil Hospital were removed to the Old Lock Hospital. At 7.50 a.m. the roof of the R. C. Cathedral caught. fire, and had it not been quickly noticed and put out by the aid of buckets there is no knowing where it would have ended. We believe that there have been several accidents, but we have not heard of any loss of life; one woman was taken out of a house of ill fame drunk, her house being at the time in a blaze, a fact of which she was quite ignorant and indifferent. We regret to say the Mr Creagh the Act- ing Superintendent of the Fire Brigade and Colonel Shervington have each had one of their feet hurt. There are many of the worst dens of infamy cleared oat. We understand that the Captain of the S. 8. Perusia offered an asylum for 600 Chinese, and many others followed suit; whilst several godowns been brought into requisition. The Are is still Sm:uld- ering as we go to press.
During the day bodies of men have been engaged pulling down the many very dan. gerous walls which were left standing, About $60,000 in notes and $19 000 in silver were found in a vault under the ruins of Woo Hang's shop, Queen's Road Central, and removed by a party of armed police to a place of safety. We noticed & safe (fire- proof of course) with the smoke issuing from it which looked much as if it had been tampered with,
A few of the Volunteers did duty last night as guarde, but as many of that honor-¡ able corps had been hard at work the night previous they did not muster in very great force. About 14 turned out
from 6 to 12, and 30 from 12 till day. light, but many of these had satisfied themselves with only a couple of hours rest. A fair estimate of the number of houses destroyed is 400. In Endicott Lane 6, Tang Man Lane, 20, Wing On Lane, 30, Gilman's Street 20, Gilmans' Basaar 46, Queen's Road 44, Stanley Street 38, Poo Shing Lane 10, Wellington Street, 55, Gage Street, 9, Lyndhurst Terrace 34 (many of them quite new), Hollywood Rood 7, Cochran treet 41, Tsong Tuk Lee Lane, 10, Gutzlaff Street 13, Graham Street 23, Peel Street 7; but the number of persons huddled together in this number of houses is surprising and may be counted by thousands. Good Hook and Ladder Company would be an inestim- able boon at a fire and would have render. ed good service on the present occasion The treasure from the Chartered Bank was sent on board H. M. S. Kestrel last night for safety as there was no telling how soon the bank might fall a victim to the fire. a detachment of the 74th Highlanders was told off to guard the Oriental Bauk.
THE THIEVES.
As might have been expected the thieves were not idle but made what they could whilst the fire lasted. The absence of cases at the Police Court last Tuesday was amply compensated for to-day as there were about 150, in fact so many that it was thought necessary to have men from the 74th Highlanders in the Court with fixed bay- onets to guard against an outbreak, and Messrs Hayllar and Barff mat jointly as Magistrates, to assist with the cases, which were however not of a very serious nature and were treated very leniently by all the Magistrates, who apparently con- sidered the temptation to which the
been creatures hari
subjected. poor Most of them were either fiued or aent to terms of imprisonment ranging from
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to
7 14 days with hard labour, number of the Europsau prisoners were engaged during the day cle ning the Police Station yards which were covered with pieces of tharred wood and the remains of the spoils which had rained upon the station. Many people were very good to the poor creatures who were left to pass the night in the streets, and Mr Dorab jee of the Hongkong Hotel supplied beer and biscuits free for the firemen. Mr Fisher, in whose house the fire origi- nated, was insured for $5,000,
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