1904: Bluff hotel destroyed by fire
“At 7.45pm [12 October 1904] members of the Durban fire brigade noticed what appeared to be a small fire on the Bluff side of the Bay entrance.”
So read the report in the Natal Mercury on 13 October.
The Public House Trust building, which comprised a bar, dining room and accommodation rooms opened for business in October 1903. Constructed entirely of wood, it was built partly on stilts right on the water’s edge. Archival records state that 68 Jarrah logs (from Australia) each measuring 20 to 24 feet in length were used in the foundation pilings of the building. But on the night of 12 October, with a strong south westerly wind blowing, it caught alight and within 20 minutes was reduced to ashes.
No lives were lost.
The fire started in a storeroom adjacent to the building. An employee had gone into the storeroom in which paint and turpentine were kept. He lit a match to light his way. The manager of the Public House Trust, a Mr Mills, said he was in the bar when he suddenly saw flames burst into the room. He had just enough time to remove £43 from the till and to get his wife out of the building. They lost all their possessions.
As a venue, the Public House Trust was very popular with visitors and locals alike. As the Mercury remarked, “the Bluff has lost one of its most picturesque features”. Although reports subsequent to the disaster speculated as to whether it would be rebuilt, a letter in the Mercury dated 16 May 1905 referred to a visit to the Public House Trust. As a photograph shows, the new building was positioned away from the water’s edge. The writer was complimentary about the place saying: “Durban on a Sunday is one of the dullest places on Earth. Beyond a trip to the Umgeni or to the Bluff, there is practically nowhere to go by way of relaxation.”
1904: Bathing on the Bluff
As noted in #6 of this series, in terms of administration the Bluff did not fall under the Durban Corporation until 1932. Instead it was subject to several statutory bodies such as the Harbour Board, the Indian Immigration Trust Board and the ministry of Lands and Works. The issue of bathing in the waters around the Bluff peninsula provides insight as to the speed of administration and the social values of that time.
On 24 February 1904, Mr Shadwell, assistant harbour engineer for the Bluff, complained to the Harbour Board about men and youths who bathed “absolutely stark naked” in the waters on the bay side of the Bluff. Besides his disapproval, Shadwell was concerned about the feelings of the opposite sex who visited the area.
The Port Captain mulled over the issue for which there was no legislation as the Bluff was not subject to Durban’s bylaws. In a letter dated 22 March 1904, he suggested adapting Durban by-law 77 so as to have some legal framework to regulate the bathing issue. In abridged form, this is what he proposed: “No person above the age of 12 years shall be allowed to bathe in any tidal area frequented by the public unless clothed in bathing drawers or other garments sufficient for the purpose of decency.”
His proposal was sent to the ministry of Lands and Works which approved it on 7 May 1904. What followed was quite Byzantine in terms of bureaucratic buck-passing. Primarily it concerned how to implement the regulation which Minister Joseph Baynes had approved. Finally on 29 December 1904, the Harbour Board approved the princely sum of £1 and 15 shillings for the erection of a notice board on the bay side of the Bluff which specified how bathers were to be clothed. Despite all the paper shuffling concerning the dress of bathers, no provision was made for policing the spots where bathing occurred and enforcing the regulation.
Researched and written by Duncan Du Bois
Sources:
Natal Mercury, 13 October 1904; 16 May 1905.
Pietermaritzburg Archives:
NHD 1/1/63, No 385, 1904.
NHD 11 /1/53 HDE 1196, 8 August 1903.
