The Cambria Daily Leader

FUEL PRICES. I Mr. J. Wignall, M.P.' s I Plain Questions. In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr. James Wignall (Lab., Forest of Dean), asked the President of the Board of Trade if he would state the reason for Clause 48 of the Household Fuel and Lighting Order being cut down so that the representation in the delivery note of the class or quality of the coal together ivith the price of same now only applied to sales or coal for resale, and the state- t ment on the ticket of the class or quality of coal, and the price applicable theretol was not obligatory in the sale of coal drect to consumer, and whether he would state what protection under these circum-, stances the consumer had against being I defrauded in quality and overcharged in price ? Mr. Bridegman: Clauses 68 and 69 of the Household Fuel and Lighting Order, 1919, takes the place of and have the same effect as Clause 48 of the 1918 Order so far as delivery notes are concerned. Mr. Wignall then asked the President of the Board of Trade if he would state how many representatives of the Coal Controller had been appointed in connec- j tion with the carrying out of the Price] of Coal (Limitations) Act and the Whole- sale Coal Prices Order; how many col- liery proprietors had been prosecuted for charging an exdfess price for coal since the passage of the Act in 1915; how many coal merchants had been prosecuted for charging excess prices for coal since the coming into operation of the Order in September, 1917; how many of the Coal Controller's representatives were directly or indirectly connected with the sale of coal; and how many were coal merchants pxevious to their present appointment? NEW OFFICIALS AND THEIR WORK Mr. Bridgman: The section of the Coal Mines Department which administers the Price of Coal (Limitation) Act, 1915, and the Wholesale Coal Prices Order, 1917, oonssts of six persons, two of whom, in- cluding the head of the section, are per- -manent civil servants, and none of whom is or has been directly or indirectly con- nected with the sale of coal. One colliery company has been prosecuted for charg- ing prices in excess of those which could be justified under the Act of 1915, and i nine merchants have been prosecuted for breaches of the Wholesale Coal Prices Order, 1917.

FINANCIAL NEWS. THE DOLLAR AND MARK. The American exchange was ? gram lees favourable, the rate closing at 4.062 dol. A further sharp fall occurred in the value of the mark which touched 195. and closed at 188. The franc also was weaker at 39f 29c.. and the lira reacted to 481r. 50c. at the close. Helsinsrfors weakened appreciably to 130 tellers, with no bnyers. GOLD AND SILVER. The price ot bar silver reacnea a new nign record yets-terday—namely. 7Qd. per ounce for cash and 6ad. for future delivery-a rise of Id. and l £ d. respectively. China was asrain buying, and the market closed steady. There was a further advance to over 102s in the price of bar gold, and the amount available in the market was bought, for the Continent. A DISCLAIMER The directors of the Welsh -Mines Corpora. tion Ltd.. EO, Bi6hopsfrate. E.C. (of which the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Lisbuvne is the chair. man) which will shortly make its appear- ance. rlire it to be known publicly that neither the* nor the company ha?e. or ever have had. J any connection whatever with the Consohdated Welsh Mines Ltd., whose affairs have formed the subject of recent correspondence in the Press.

MORE SPIRITS. But Prices Unchanged. The Food Controller announces that on and after to-day (Wednesday) all restric- tions on clearances of spirits from bond are removed, and the distribution of spirits is no longer confined to licensed customers who purchased spirit in the year 19HL The spirit released from bond will be available for distribution among all members of the community, irrespec- tive of the fact whether they Were, u: were not, customers of the distributing dealer in 191G. The Spirits (Prices and Description) Order, 1919. which fixes maximum prices on all sales of spirits, remains in force.

DICKEN'S WEDDING. I Novelist's Grand-daughter Weds. The Brompton Oratory was the scene on Tuesday of the marriage of Miss Elaine Dickens, youngest daughter of Mr. Henry Dickens, K.C., Common Serjeant of the City of London, and grand-daughter or the novelist, ihe bridegroom being Major Alec Walev, M.C.. R. E., of 31. Portland-place. The bride, who was given away by her father, Wore ivory satin and silver lace with a train of silver brocade. Her tulle veil fell from a Roumanian crown of silver lace, and she was attended by Dickens' great-grandchildren, Doris, Monica, Cedric and Peter Dickens. Kichard Charles Dickens Schuckburgh and his sister Rosemary, and "Xancv and Gipsy Hawkesley. All the eliildt-pti wore frocks' of white corded silk with wreaths of bright- coloured flowers on their heads, and car- ried Victorian posies of flowers to match Sir Park Goff was best man, and Car- dinal Bourne officiated at the choral ser- vice.

TIGER'S" SUCCESSOR. Probable New French Premier. M. Millerand is spoken of as the new French Premier. Ho made the alliances for and drew up the programme of th>? National Bloc, which has swept the country, making Clemeneeau (as one of j his Press opponents says) tremendously and fearfully victorious." The Department of the, Seine, which in- eludes Paris, had the right to 54 seats, and of these the Clemeneeau Party has won 36. The representation of the Unified Socialists is reduced from 22 to 10. Four Socialists whom the Unified Party would not have on its lists because they sup- ported the War Cabinet and were against Bolshevism formed a list of their own, and were all elected. » An examination of the returns up to date shows that all the other Depart- ments have voted in pretty much the same way as the Seine. I COUNTRY WANTS TO WORK. The lesson of the vote is that the coun- try wants to get TO work. Although tho Socialists have lost so many seats, their total poll has already been computed at 1,700,000 votes. M. Longuet describes the new Electoral Law (which combines the bloc vote sys- tem with proportional representation) as monstrous, and points out that in Paris 26,5,000 Socialist voters returned 6nly seven representatives, while 380,000 voters of the National Bloc returned 36. One curious fact is that while Gustave Tery, who fought Leon Daudet in the same Paris constituency, polled 36,000 votes, Daudet was elected with 19.000 rmtm.

1 BURNED TO DEATH. Old Lady's Fate at Disastrous Swansea Fire. i WOMAN'S FRANTIC LEAP. The grocer's shop known as Mrs. Austin's, 100, Oxford-street, Swansea, was completely burned to the ground in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and one of the three occupants, an old lady named Miss Phillips, was burned to death through being penned in the blazing building. The proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. George Rosser, managed to escape, I the latter by jumping from a bedroom window, which act resulted in her sustaining a fractured right leg and severe cuts on the face. Many years have elapsed since the last fire tragedy occurred at Swansea, and that which took place at 100, Oxford-street, Swansea, in the early hours of Wednes- day, attended as it has been with so tragic a result, has shocked the whole town. It has been a difficult task to obtain anything approaching a consecutive account of the whole affair from the dis- covery of the outbreak until the Swansea Fire Brigade had completed its work, and there are majiy points which at the pre- sent juncture a-re clouded with mystery. I CAUSE OF THE FIRE. I For instance, there is the theory as tf the cause of the outbreak. One fact is worthy of note; fifteen minutes before the ground floor of the house was found to be practically enveloped in flames two police officers held a conference just a few yards from the premises, and at that time there was certainly nothing to arouse sus- picion. One of these ofifcers, P.C. (103) May, proceeded, at the end of this con- ference, in the direction of Dillwyn-stet. and it was some time later, when he was near Argyle-street, that he first heard cries of alarm. He immediately proceeded to the spot, where, at 100, Oxford-street, he found a huge blaze. I THE DISCOVERY. I In order to give a connected account, it is necessary to reefer to the dramatic discovery of the fire made by the occu- pant, Mr. Kosser. A coaohbuilder in the employ of Messrs. Jackett Bros., Wassail- square, Mr. Rosser, who is a man of just over fifty yeans, has to be At his work at an early hour. His wife carries on a small grocery business at this address, and the whole of the front of the house is devoted to this business. Just after four o'clock Mr. Bosser got up, and proceeded down stairs for the purpose of lighting a hrw. leaving his wife and the latter's aunt, an old lady of over 70 years, upstairs. uld lady, a Miss Phillips, was almost blind, and to all intents and purposes was practically bedridden. On arriving down- stairs he was alarmed at discovering the kitchen fulLof smoke, and some i?ods ,n the shop on lire. It has been subsequently a,scertained that a new supply of fats and bacon wa3 received into the shop a few days ago, and that the probability is that the fire commenced here. I MASS OF FLAMES. Mr. Rosser immediately on discovering the outbreak rushed for a bucket of water, which he poured over the conflagration This, it is saui, had the effect of fanning the lfames, a.nd in an incrediibly short space of time the shop was a mass of itanies. Mrs. Rosser, by this time, had joined her husband with the intention of preparing his breakfast. After au abortive attempt to subdue the quickly spreading fire, the couple ran upsta-irs iL order to warn their aged relative- I TRAPPED IN BEDROOM. Hardly had they reached the top of the stairs when huge tongues of Jiame were seen issuing through the front bedroom flooring, and the awful fact dawned upon them that the old lady, who was upstairs in another bedroom, was trapped, it wa& then that they cried for help. In the meantime it appears that Driver Clifford, of the. wallsea Tramways, was passing the shop on his way to the tramway depot, and he assisted in giving tLe alarm. It was now that P.C. May appeared on the scene, and the young officer acted with commendable promptitude. He gave instructions for the Fire Brigade to be notified, while he himself went round to the back of the house, where, from a neighbouring back garden, he obtained a ladder. At a back window was Mrs. Rosser, who was naturally in a very ex- cited state.' I WOMAN'S LEAP. I Leaning the ladder against the wall, he at once ran up with the intention of carry- ing the lady to safety, but despite his appeal to her to wait until he could get to her, Mrs. Rosser elected to jump from her window to the ground, a distance of twenty feet, on to a stone pavement. Mrs. Rosser was severely injured, and. as a matter of fact, sustained a fractured thigh. P.C. May immediately went to her assist- ance. and after having attended to her, and transferred her to the ministrations of kindly disposed women in the quickly gathering crowd, he once more scaled the lad(ler in order to attempt to save M1"6 Phillips. But he was just too late! As he placed his foot inside the room the flooring, which was a (seething mass of flames, gave way, and preoipitated the bed. in which the old lady lay, down to the next floor. Here later her charred re- mains were found, with the bedclothes burnt practically to a cinder. It was 4.50 a.m. when the alarm was received at the Central Police Station, and it redounds immeasurable credit to Inspector Evans a.nd the sixteen other tire- men that, although in bed at the time, they were on the scene in a very short space of time. Already, however, the fire had spread, and two houses on the one side and one on the other were in danger of being also destroyed. The brigade quickly got to work. I LOW WATER PRESSURE. I The hose was flung out, the fire escape was placed in position, and the grim fight with the flames commenced. It was early evident that the house and shop them- selves could not be saved, and, indeed, at first it was feared that one of the adjoin- ing premises would also add to the fur- nace. But, proceeding methodically and with precision—and let it be said with gallantry—the Brigade fought steadily on. As luck would have it, they were con- siderably hampered by the fact that the water was at very low pressure. Neverthe- less, under the able guidancy of Inspector Evans, the outbreak was first of all pre- vented from spreading, and eventually was successfully battled with in the doomed house itself, although obviously from the outset the task of saving the latter was an impossible one. FIREMEN'S GALLANT FIGHT. I The story of the firemen's fight is too long to recount, but the fact that they arrived on the scene before five o'clock, and did not leave until nearly nine affords nome indication of the immensity of their ta?k. f P.C. May deserves particular oomraen- dation for his good work. He is a recruit to the Force, and he certainly showed great presence of mdnd as well as gal- lantry. MRS. ROSSER'S CONDITION. On inquiry at the Swansea Hospital this morning, it was found that Mrs. Rosser had sustained a cut over the eye a.nd a fractured leg. She aleo had her feet rather badly burnt, and was suffering greatly from shock. NEIGHBOURS1 STORIES Eye-Witnesses' Accounts of the Fire. As can be imagined, the lower portion of Oxford-street was filled with small groups of people discussing the sad occurrence, and in front of the gutted buildings there was a small crowd, despite the rain, all the morning. .Leader" representatives inter- viewed several of the neighbours, but owing to the earlincss of the hour none had seen the first stages of the conflagra- tion. They all seemed at a low to ac- count for the origin of the outbreak and its tragic circumstances, and the fatal consequence cast a depressing mantle on the whole affair. [" Leader" Photo.] [',Leader" Photo.]" Our photo shows the state of t he shop at 100, Oxford-street, after being gutted by fare last night.

DOOR BOY KILLED. Great Mountain Colliery Tragedy. At the Great Mountain Colliery this morning, a boy named Phil Aldetman (aged 14), was killed by a journey of trams. The lad had be4n working underground only a week, and this was his first night on the job, which he took over in the absence of the regular door-boy.

FUTURE OF OIL. I Sir A. Geddes' Warning I Sir Auckland Geddes made an impor- tant pronouncement on the industrial out- look to the Industrial League Council at the London Guild Hall on Tuesday even- ing. He said:— Everything has been done to induce the minere, to produce more coal. There was a great development in oil fuel, which was now being supplied for heating some of the hotels in London, and machinery boilers in great industrial firms, and in a few v,eek.> some of the greatest iiners would go to sea oil-driven. The use of oil brought a new ;et of factors into the industrial outlook. It tiansformed tho ba-sis of the pre-war in- dustrial system. INDUSTRIAL OUTLOOK FULL OF I PROMISE. Sir Auckland remarked that the indus- trial outlook was lull of brilliant promise. but there were clouds, from which there would probably bp storms. There still remained a certain unreason- able element in the country, which seem- ed incapable of understanding that indus- try was in a state of revolution, and that without oo-operaiion throughout they would have dislocations and collisions with loss to the whole community The enormous changes that were taking place reacted again and again, so that ia the vicious circle evolved high prices fos everything continued. The &reat re- adjustment necessary rouJd only be made i* the employers and employed clearly understood what was going on. Britain had, in his opinion, after the most careful study, the. greatest oppor- tunity in her history, hut they must rely on the intelligent co-operation of every- one. The British Government was not I-Iiiilt for taking over the whole of indus- try. The industries themselves—em- ployers, employed and merchants, who found markets for goods produced—must be the moulders and the architects of the new structure of industry which must arise.

I NEW HOSPITAL. I I Service Project for Neath. I In the House oi Commons on Tweed ay Col. Sir C. Craig (Co. U., Antrim) said that the Ministry of Pensions intended to establish a hospital at Neath almost im- mediately for the reception of ex-5ervice men. Every effort. had been made to establish a hospital in or near Cardiff, but it was found that no suitable accom- modation was available.

I NO FOOD COMMITTEE. I do- I Ammanford Council Refuse I to Appoint New One. Arising out of differences between the Ammanford Food Control Committee and the Deputy Milk Controller respecting winter retail prices >f milk for the town, the committee has now actually resigned en bloc. At a meeting of the Ammanford Conn- cil on Tuesday r. ght, a c,ommunicabon was read from the Controller regarding the steps taken, and asking the Council to again appoint a committee. The Council resolved to refuse to ap- point, as a protest against the action # the Controller in ignoring the advice they had tendered on several occasions. J

If. 100,000 SCHEME. What Ammanford Sewers Will Cost. I The ratepayers of Ammanford have- been given to understand, as a result of • the special meeting of the A-mmanford, Council, held on Tuesday night, Mr. J. H. Lawley presiding, that the total cost of' the proposed local sewerage scheme, and the town's quota towards the joino. scheme, will work out at no less than Y-100,000, representing an addition to the rates of 10.3d. in the S per annum. With the ordinary rate and tie present expenditure the rate per annum was an- j ticipated to be 17s. 3d. in the 1. ?xclusiv9^ of poor rate. The local scheme, as submitted by the engineer (Mr. H. Herbert. J.P.), was ac- cepted, subject to one deviation. When tho engineer referred to the esti- mate of cost, Dr. Ylm. Evans 6t^»geste<} that the figures should not be puolished in the newspapers. Ald. W. N. Jones said he hacl heard a certain figure mentioned, and so long as it had gone abroad, it was just ae well thac the ratepayers should know h:c ¡ the scheme waa Jefinitely going to cost. A statement was made as to t.he prow bable cost of both the local and joinC1 echeme, by MI. W. Evans, and Alderman Jones remarkei: £ 100,000, that is what- we have to f. The newspapers were not wrong after all. The engineer iaid no engineer in the world knew wha it was going to cosb finally. That drew from lid. Jones the remark that they must notmdertake the scheme blind-folded, and fkd the estimate ex- ceeded by £20,000 or £ 30,000. In the end it was greed to hold a con- ference with represenatives of the Parish of Llandebie regardii. the probability of their wanting to discarge their sewerage into the Ammanford rstem.

COAL P10FITS. Owners' Protst Against Sanitaton. At a meeting of the Suth Wales Coal. owners' Association, h<l at Cardiff on! Tuesday, Mr. Evan Williams, Llan-j gennecli, reported that ideputation from. the Mining Association f Great Britain" waited upon Mr. LloycGeorge on Fri- day last to place the vb,s of tie coal- owners before the Govent. The deputation pointed out tt the Govern- ment were practically t-ing up the compensation agreement which was passed by the House of ommons anci! embodied in an Act of PaianHlfltj ina.s- iiiuoh as they proposed th: the limitaJ tion of profits to Is. 2d. fr Im Waa; to be made retrospective to prii 5th o the present year. DEVELOPMENTS HEL up. Information was avails that< t38.fh)O 000 w as awaiting to ? utilised']! f1' developments and for the ?tung ?p: of n?w colLienes, but none of t? mt)lle p would be released until ther' was  1 dfinjt guaraDtco in regar d t<he pol.1 tion of the coal trade, and it w clearly intimated that if the Bill hmJt¡. profits were passed, no capital w?ould ? avaiiJJ able for such developments. i The whole incentive as far as?llic-ilv companies were concerned, wo? be- come that of output, irrespective M?t.J COALOWNERS' DECLARATIyi j The following ersolution was ianw mously adopted:— That this association, which pr" sents an output of 44 ow 000 WDIri annum, an export trade of OQUÜ 27,000,000 tons per annum, andem4 braces 108 colliery companies who^vo employment to 200,000 workmen, eiei3 the strongest possible protest againstm^ expresses its indignation at the pri) of the Government to limit the prc fi? the coal trade, and thereby I)enalifse,.tlll key industry of the country. The acvti of tie Government is tantamount t. confiscation of property, and involves^ its retrospective action the tearing d the Coal Control Agreement, whir was ratified by an Act of Parliament The association will take all steps pu;- sible to oppose to the uttermost the 13iji which, if passed, would inflict great in justice and irreparable injury to one in austrv as compared with all other indus tries. I. it was decided that a copv of the reso lution be forwarded to the t'rime Minis- ter, Mr. Bonar Law, and Sir Auckladt Geddes.

THAT L19000 A YEAF. — Coal Owner Repeats Stat- ment. Interviewed on Tuesday by a Wsteri^ Mail" representative couceraiiq. tile: doubts expressed by Mr. ILartshox and" Mr. Tom Hiehards on his statemt re- yarding the earning of xolliers at ctain., [ its, Mr. Fredeytek Stills, J.P., chairman of the Ehhw Vale SteeLron,, uid Coal Company, said:- i I have observed that several (ii miners' leaders, notably Mr. Richammw Mr. Vernon Hartshorn, criticise my ita., mcnts, which are, of course, taken oiaj actual facts. The latter gentleniaiiii. vites rae to disclose the name oihai colliery, with detailed information^! support my statement. "NOT LIKELY," The lasthme that specific rarer. was made the men were told not to "lc so hard in the future, and it is not I am going to supply specific inforiuan again. Facts are facts. Pemember what said, that is that certain men have dur? r?c?nt months worked at the ratt? 1.2()O per annum, and that at a cert( co?iery during the game period t colliers worked at the rate o f ZSOO I annum, and I rejoice in the fact. "Why try to disprove it? Why II emulate it?"

MANNESMANN STRIKE. Works Carrying On." The Mannesmann strike position Wa still unchanged. The works are st-ii "carrying on," although under difRcivj ties.

10s. FOR ASSAULT. AI. Swansea, to-day, Charles Walkev fruiterer was fined 10s. for an assault ov John Matthews, a labourer, on Alltyagoi Fagn, sear Petard" V

LIKE A FURNACE. I Neighbours Escape in Night Attire. I Mr. Dewsbury, of 98, Oxford-etrect, one I of the nouses partly destroyed, said: I was awakened by cries of Fire and the breaking of glass, and running out, found the houses Nos. 98 to 101 a mass of flames. I and others sought refuge in neighbour- ing houses, whilst someone telephoned for the brigade. On its arrival the houses were liko a furnace. The occupants of the houses had to make their escape in their night attire. The fire was discovered by a tram- way employe, who immediately knocked up Mr. Rosser. Mr. Rosser came to the door, and, being unable to return to his room owing to the flames, called to his wife and her aunt—an old lady about 70 years of age-to follow him. Mrs. Rosser jumped from a back window, and in doing so was injured. People in the street were for a time under the impression that the old lady, who was almost blind, had effected her escape, but when it was discovered that she had failed to do so it was too late to effect a rescue. The remains of the old lady were dis- covered in the back parlour, and I believe she must have collapsed on the way out The flames were about 30 feet high, and the Brigade was hampered by a shortage of water. The ronf oi m. hour* and Mk j front bedroom were almost totally (if- t tutally ( i ,.? troyed, and furniture m the other bed- rooms was damaged by the water. The cause of the fire remains a myB- tery. As far as I know the furniture iii the houses concerned in the conflagration was not insured, although, I believe, the houses were." MIRACULOUS ESCAPE I A Leader" representative inspected Mr. Dewsbury's house (which was in. sured) and found that the major part of I the damage was due to the water. He was quite at a loss to understand failure in the water pressure, and said that it was remarkable how his and neighbouring houses escaped as they did. Mr. Dews- bury said-that-the Brigade had some diffi- culty in manipulating the fire escape also. LEAP FOR LIFE; I Vivid Story of Mrs Rosser's Escape! J The details suppH?l by the occupant! of No. 14, the hom directly opposite, con-] veyed a vivid impression of the sudden{ ferocity of the fire.  She understood that Motorman Clifford i discovered the fire at about 4.30 a.m. He noticed smoke issuing from the doorway of the shop. He hammered at the door to aroifSe the residents, but had consider- able difficulty in arousing them. Even- tually Mr. George Rosser came dowii lightly clad. and must have at once real- ised that the blaze threatened to be a I serious one, for he found in a moment that flames barred his return upstairs. It was pathetic to see him running I about wildly shouting For God's sake I 4- come down. Oh for God'a eake ooone down. By this time the lower part of the house was blazing furiously, and it was impos- sible to get within the doorway on account of the intense heat. MRS. ROSSER'S LEAK Mr. Rosser, one can readily imagine, was in the iatst stage of despair when sud- denly the figure of his wife, Mrs. Rosser, was seen at the bedroom window. The lady was terrified, but she saw that Iict only salvation lay in throwing her&elf from the window. It was impossible ioi anybody to stand underneath t,he window owing to the building being co low, and the heat so irightfuliy intense. She wap seen to balance on the window-sill, how- ever, and with a shriek made a jump to the ground. Spectators ran forward to the spot where she had fallen, despite the r.c,orokinip heat, and carried her into a neighbouring house, where it was seen that she was quite unconscious. Efforts were made to revive her, without avail, And she was removed to the hospital, where it wa.s found she had fractured her right leg, and was severely cut about the t'aco. SPECTATORS HORRIFIED. I Whilst the horrified spectators were watching Mrs. Rosser making her dee- pairing leap from the window the cry suddenly went upothat there was an old lady (Miss Phillips, Mrs. Rossere aunt) still in the house. People almost fainted at the thought of an aged and infirm lady I being penned in the fiercely burning build- ing, moreso because there were no means of effecting a rescue. By this time the lIames lia,.ti obtained a terrific hold, and long tongues of fire licked the house next door, No. 99. Nothing was seen of Miss Phillips until her charred body was afterwards dis- covered amidst the debris of the sitting- room when the fire had died out. All these incidents had only occupied the space of a few minutes, and several persons had run to the telephone for the fire brigade, which arrived about a quarter of an hour after the fire had been discovered. All the neighbours agreed that nothing could have been done quicker. and one resident of the street exclaimed to our re- presentative. Oh. it was terrible having to stand there, knowing that a poor old lady was being burned to death. All the women were crying and the men were wild because they could not do anything." One woman, recalling the scene, almost choked at the recollection. ACCOMMODATED BY NEIGHBOURS. l Then when the brigade had arrived, so I Olir representative elicited, there was diffi- I culty in obtaining the necessary pressure with the water supply, and the house next door. No. 99, was threatened. The oc-cuimntg, Mr. and Mrs. Morris, and their daughter, were speedily brought out and were accommodated at the house of Mr. Owen, across the road. The flames [ sjtread rapidly along the roof of No.,99, and fears were entertained that thev would secure such a hold as to ignite the other houses. Eventually, however, the brigade got the pressure up, and several streams of water were playing-on the flames. Half of the roof of No. 99 was burned away before the conflagration was got under two hours later,-but most of the furniture was completely destroyed, either by heat or water. No. 101 escaped with minor damage. On Wednesday morning Mr. Rosser, who is an employee of Messrs. Jackett and Co., cdachbuilders, Swansea, was too distraufht to give an account of his ter- rible experience, whist on inquiry at the hospital we were informed that Mr" Rosser was suffering severely from shock, and is, of course, in a critical condition. The value of the stock of the shop has been estimated at between £600 and nil (he prjperlv-was insured. M RS.A USTI N'S." One of the Oldest Businesses in Swansea. The grocer's shop known as Mrs. Austin's is one of the oldest businesses in the town, and Mrs. Austin, the pre- sent proprietress' mother, died two years ago. Mrs. Rosser has been exceedingly un- fortunate. for shortly after the death of her mother, her two daughters, aged I i- and 20 respectively, also died within three months of one another. This latest blow has therefore excited the deepest sympathy amongst hei cus- tomers and neighbours. SCENE OF FORMER CONFLA- GRATION. About 35 or 38 yeard ago a serious con- flagration took place not many yards away from the scene of Wednesday. morning's sad catastrophe. Then, as now, there was loss of life, notwithstanding the valiant efforts of the Swansea. Borough Polico I Fire Brigade. i The house where the fire in question took, plal" is, situated on the corner of Lower Oxford-street and Beach-street. now. occupied as a printing office, carri ed on by the widow of the late Mr. Albert Wriilit., 'It was a terrible fire, many daring acts being performed against great, edds by several members of the fire bri-1 gade Especially conspicuous was a yoting police constable "named James Dee, who I had formerly been in the Navy. lie rroved himself a valiant fire-figliter, fork- ing marvellously from start to finish, heedless, of the many dangers that sur- rounded him on all hands. He was ably supported by. the late ax-Inspector Parry, < í who was also responsible for some real good work. But it was the young officer, Dee, who covered himself with glory for the magnificent dash and daring he dis- played. Presently it got whispered round that a mother, with her two children, were in the burning pilel The excite- ment became intense as the fire got fiercer and the flames extended. Un- daunted, yet partially exhausted from his strenuous acts. Dee worked with renewed vigour, and a moment later was ascend- ing the scorching ladder. He disappeared for a time, the watching crowd's anxiety being strained to its utmost tension. Pneseutly, however, the tension was re- lieved by the appearance at the window of the young fireman bearing in his arms. covered in blanker, two children, whom he handed to waiting comrades, then entered the burning building again, shortly afterwards bringing forth from a threatened horrible death their uncon- scious mother. I 1 The other part of the story is known to many of our older readers. The young officer's splendid action was spoken of and read about far and near. He was the re- cipient of many hundreds of congratu- latory letters for his heroic deeds, be- sides a silver medal for life-saving, a pub- lic testimonial, which were made to him at the Guildhall, the ceremony being witnessed by a large enthusiastic and thankful assemblage.