Fire Destroys Big Rabaul Store

AT 2 a.m. on Wednesday, August 23, flames were seen in the upper storey of Messrs. W. R. Carpenter and Co.’s large store in Rabaul; and, within a few hours, the place was completely destroyed.

A fire brigade, comprising native police, using water brought in hoses from the nearby water-front, could do little to check the flames. Various adjoining buildings, the destruction of which seemed inevitable, were saved, however, by their good work.

Carpenter’s store probably was the largest building in Rabaul. It was origin ally the New Guinea Company’s store, when Rabaul was a German colony; and, after the occupation, it was purchased by Carpenter’s for £15,000 and considerably enlarged and improved. The ground floor was a very extensive general store, divided into departments, while the upper floor was partly general store and partly offices.

Tenants who had suites of offices in the building included the Expropriation Board; Mr. Cromie (solicitor); Mr.

Costelloe (accountant); and Mr. Mac Lean (dentist). These gentlemen lost every thing.

At the back of the store were two im portant departments the freezing chamber which is the distributing point for a large portion of the fresh food con

sumed in Rabaul, and a bakery, which was operated by Mrs. L. Brodie under arrangement with Messrs. W. R. Carpen ter & Co. Both the freezer and the bakery were destroyed.

All the other buildings surrounding the main store were saved. These included the timber sheds, the hardware store, the engineering workshops, and the single storey office building, adjoining the store.

The dressmaking shop of Miss Howsen, and the Rabaul Beauty Parlour, were saved.

Among the property destroyed were the records of the Expropriation Board. It is believed that duplicates of most of these exist in Canberra, but the loss of the documents will cause great inconvenience.

The damage is estimated at over £70,000 and most of it is covered by in surance. The loss to the firm will be heavy, however—not only directly, but indirectly, owing to dislocation of busi ness.

The managing director in New Guinea, Mr. W. H. Carpenter, had left Rabaul only a few days before the occurrence; but the local manager, Mr. Gordon Higgs, took the situation in hand with great vigor, and within two or three days he had established a skeleton organisation to carry on in the remaining buildings. The firm was able to continue to supply bulk and plantation lines, but it obviously was not possible to continue the retail busi ness, and it wa? decided not to make any attempt to re-establish the retail store until instructions to that effect came from Sydney. The rebuilding of the cold store was re-commenced within a few days.

Future Of Retail Store

The question of re-establishing the re tail store was under consideration by the directors of W. R. Carpenter and Co., Ltd., in Sydney last week, but no de cision was reached. Present indications are that the firm will carry on whole sale distribution from Rabaul and will continue to operate the freezer and the various departments which were not destroyed by the fire; but that no re building programme of any dimensions will be undertaken, and no attempt made for the present to re-establish the re tail store.

It is a remarkable coincidence that the large general store of Messrs. Burns, Philp & Co., Ltd., in Rabaul, only a few yards south of the Carpenter store, was totally destroyed by fire only 18 months ago. The new B.P. store, a spacious build ing planned on modern lines, was opened recently.

Mademoiselle Renee Hamon, a Paris journalist, who returned to France a short time ago after a visit to the French Col onies in the Pacific, has written a new travel book dealing with the islands of Tahiti, Tuamotus, and Marquesas. It will be published bv Flammarion in October.

Another volume by her entitled “Gauguin, Hermit of the Pacific” is now in the press.

It is reported that Mile. Hamon will re turn to Papeete at an early date with a cinema unit to make a Tahitian film.

Mr. William Ernest Clarence Robinson, of Suva, Fiji, married Miss Marjorie Daysh Horne, of New Zealand, at Suva Holy Trinity Pro-Cathedral in August. The bride formerly was on the staff of the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, in Suva.

The Rabaul store of W. R. Carpenter & Co. Ltd., photo graphed a few hours before the fire by the editor of the “P.I.M.”.

The same building in flames-a night photograph by Mr.

Andrew Kelly, of Rabaul.