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n o w became general, church bells rang, and police and private watchmen ran about singing out " Fire!" A large crowd quickly congregated, but there were then few means and appliances to wrestle with a conflagration. Mr. T. C. Riddle, the occupant of the next shop, lost no time in moving his family to a place of safety. There was a large handsome building to the west known as the Melbourne Chambers used as the Savings Bank, as well as offices and business premises, and fearing thefirehad extended to this, the front door was forced open and steps taken to secure any valuable property therein. Three adjoining shops (Riddle's, Plart's and M'Gregor's) were completely in the grasp of the enemy, and amongst them in thefirstand second stories thefireplayed up without interruption. A strong westerly wind was blowing, wafting red flakes of burning material in the direction of Queen Street. T h e only supply of water was from the Yarra, by means of a p u m p and a water-cart. Luckily the river was not far off, and the watercarriers worked well, but unluckily there was no m o d e of applying thefluid,for the time was anterior to the era of eitherfire-brigadeor engine. T h e only substitute for the Y a n Yean hose was the primitive bucket, while the number of borrowed buckets available was very limited, and nothing even like a suitable ladder was on the ground. W e t blanketing and bucketing were resorted to as far as possible, but a new source of alarm stepped in, as between the Melbourne Chambers and Little Flinders Street rearward there was a congeries of weather-board, wattle-and-daub shanties—where people and merchandise were stowed away in so-called dwellings and stores—and the smallest brand from the burning would burst up this quarter as if it were a huge heap of well-dried fuel. If this happened, there was no foretelling the consequences, as that portion of the town was then studded with cribs of every imaginable shape, and used as receptacles for all sorts of commodities. T h e military (a detachment of the 8oth regiment) and police were on the spot to maintain order and save property. A considerable quantity of valuables of different kinds was saved, though salvage was to a great extent a misnomer; sofas, chairs and tables being dashed about the streets, with the most reckless levity or criminality. A good deal of the stocks-in-trade of the destroyed premises was rescued. All this time thefirewas pelting away furiously, and showed an inclination to mount the roof of the Melbourne Chambers, and the store of Messrs. Turnbull, Orr, and Co. adjoining. T h e bucket-holders, no matter h o w willing, could not possibly jump up to the tops of two-storied houses, and the few crippled ladders available were just as incapable of doing so. Everyone began to shout for a tall ladder, and in due time one was forthcoming. Turnbull and Orr, merchants, had now arrived, and some bales of blankets were obtained from their store, well saturated with water, hoisc^d up aloft and spread along the roofs most exposed to the fire. At the rear of Hart's was a brick skillion, the shingled roof of which was torn away in good time to save a wooden dwelling placed within a foot of it, and had a very narrow escape. At the rear of the Melbourne Chambers ran a range of wooden buildings, communicating by a door, and this thoroughfare was, on the suggestion of the Chief-Constable, plugged u p with bricks in place of wood, a precaution which, it was thought, had saved the whole area from Queen to Market Streets, including the Melbourne Club-house and the Union Bank. T h e fire went on, glutting itself on the premises of Messrs. Hart and Riddle, and the Melbourne Chambers. T h e twofirstwere utterly destroyed, and the third left a complete wreck. The Police Magistrate (Major St. John), arrived before midnight, and proceeded with his usual impulsiveness, to swear in special constables at sight, for the preservation of order and property. About 2 a.m. thefirehad pretty well become exhausted, and as all risk of its spreading was over, people began to think of returning to their beds, and the military and police were posted as guards in the street. Next day it was ascertained that Turnbull, Orr and Co.'s goods and furniture were insured for ^ 1 5 0 0 , and their loss by plunder and breakage was reckoned at about ,£500. Mr. W . H . Cropper, a wine and spirit merchant, who occupied part of the Chambers, saved the most of his stock. H e was not insured. Hart's house was insured for a £ 1 0 0 0 , and his stock for ,£300, but he lost considerably. All his personal effects were destroyed, and thefirepushed him so unmercifully that he was left with only the trousers and shirt in which he stood. Mr. M'Gregor who had only just commenced business as a jeweller and watchmaker, lost a valuable stock which was uninsured, and Riddle's destruction of property was estimated at ^ 1 0 0 0 , but luckily he was covered by insurance. During the night the establishment of Messrs. Annand, Smith and Company, grocers and general dealers, at the north-east corner of Queen and Collins Streets, was rushed by the m o b on pretence of saving it, though it was far removed from any possible danger Plunder was evidently the object of such assumed solicitude, and so the place was gutted to the extent of something