Fire was the scourge of colonial towns and cities. Old, tinder-dry wooden buildings and books were a highly combustible combination, and many private and public library collections went up in flames.
One of New Zealand's greatest library disasters was narrowly averted in 1907, when fire swept through Parliament Buildings in Wellington. At 2 a.m. on 11 December Parliament's nightwatchman made his
regular check of the buildings and returned to his office for a hot cup
of cocoa. He thought he heard rain on the roof, but when he went to
check, he found a substantial blaze had broken out. He sounded the
alarm, threw open the gate for the fire brigade and tackled the fire
with a hose, which soon burned right through.
The fire was probably started by a short in the electric wiring in the
ceiling of the interpreters' room. It spread rapidly through the old
wooden parts of the buildings and then into the masonry additions of
the 1880s. By 5 a.m., Bellamy's restaurant had been destroyed and firemen were battling
desperately to save the library. An eyewitness recalled the morning's events:
It was apparent that the main building could not be saved, and everyone
then concentrated on salvaging what they could, and the lawn in front
of the building began to look like a fair. There were books, papers,
portraits, chairs and desks, hurriedly snatched and brought to safety ... At the northern end of the block was the new General Assembly Library,
a brick structure, protected by iron doors and shutters. When it seemed
that this too might become involved, frantic efforts
were made to remove the books and records, and through a private
property in Hill Street, an endless stream of people began carrying
them to safety, but the library was saved.
Staff and volunteers moved more than 15,000 volumes from the building's ground floor as a precaution against the flames breaking through. The morning light revealed the scale
of the devastation to the crowds and parliamentarians who had come to
watch: the old wooden buildings were completely destroyed, and New Zealand's de facto national library – with its 80,000 volumes and many other treasures
– had been saved only by its brick walls and metal fire door.
Image: Parliament Buildings on fire in 1907
