Nov.] 



CHRONICLE. 



]£1 



street, including the stores and 

 wharfs, were reduced to ashes, 

 and with them the greater part of 

 a very large stock of provisions 

 with which they were stored. 



What rendered the scene the 

 more truly distressing is, that most 

 of those who suffered so severely 

 in the fire of the 11th of Febru- 

 ary, 1816, are again involved in 

 the distress which we now attempt 

 to describe : in that calamity, 

 many respectable individuals lost 

 their all, and are again reduced to 

 a similar situation, without shelter 

 or covering, at this advanced sea- 

 son of the year. Winter is ap- 

 proaching — a long, dreary, New- 

 foundland winter — and the pros- 

 pects before us are gloomy in the 

 extreme : but we will not distress 

 our readers by dwelling longer on 

 this melancholy topic. We do, 

 however, most sincerely hope that 

 efficient measures will be speedily 

 devised, and promptly executed, 

 to save us from a repetition of 

 the scenes of last winter. 



So far as we \\a.\e been able to 

 ascertain, 13 mercantile establish- 

 ments, and among them the ex- 

 tensive concerns of Hart, Robin- 

 son, and Co. ; Hunters and Co. ; 

 Peter Henderson (late James Mac- 

 braire and Co.) ; Bulleys, Job, 

 and Cross; Parker, Creever, and 

 Co. j Wm. B. Thomas ; Attwood 

 and Hayncs ; I'eter le Mesurier, 

 and at least 13.5 dwelling houses, 

 occupied by not less than 1,100 

 persons, have been consumed ; 

 and it is calculated that the amount 

 of property destroyed cannot be 

 less than from 4 to 500,000/. 



To those who ^^cre not specta- 

 tor*, %ve despair of giving any thing 

 like an accurate conception. We 

 have not had a fire, but a conlla- 



gration ! — a dreadful, and, con- 

 sidering our peculiarly distressing 

 circumstances, we should scarcely 

 be wrong in adding, an unheard- 

 of conflagration. Inconsequence 

 of a Proclamation issued by his 

 Excellency the Governor, all ves- 

 sels and boats are prevented from 

 leaving this port till the quantity 

 of provisions in the town be ascer- 

 tained : this, we are in hopes, will 

 have the good effect of securing 

 to the commimity whatever may 

 be yet remaining ; but that itself, 

 with the addition of what is ex- 

 pected, will not, we apprehend, 

 be near sufficient to supply our 

 wants till our navigation opens in 

 the spring of the year. In addi- 

 tion, owing to the quantity of fuel 

 consumed, there is a scarcity of 

 that valuable article. The major 

 part of our printing materials 

 having been destroyed, the pro- 

 l)rietor of the Mercantile Journal 

 has with great kindness offered us 

 the use of his types, &c. — From 

 the Royal Gazette. 



21. Another calamitous mid dis- 

 tressing Fwe.-About half-past three 

 o'clock this moining, just as we 

 were about to put our paper to 

 press, we were alarmed by a sig- 

 nal for file, and we have now the 

 painful task to record, after so 

 slwrt a lapse of time, another ex^ 

 tensive and distressing conflagra- 

 tion. 



It a])pearcd that the fire was 

 observed in the premises of Messrs. 

 Hale.. Reed, and Co. in ^Vater- 

 street, arul soon extended its ra- 

 vages to the westward, as far as 

 the house of Mr. Benj. Bowring, 

 on the upper .side, and the store 

 of Mr. Robert Nevis (jn the lower 

 side, where, by very powerful ex- 

 eitions, it was stoppcfi in it^ wes- 



terlv 



