TE AUTE COLLEGE.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16154, 7 March 1918, Page 5

TE AUTE COLLEGE.

DESTROYED BY FIRE. (PRESS ASSOCIATION' TELEGRAM.) NAPIER, March 7. At an early hour this morning a fire occurred at.Te Aute, tho greater part of the Maori College building being destroyed. Th* fire started between 2 and 3 a.m. in the kitchen, and in two hours the buildings, which were of wood, were burned to the ground. Th'e main building, the headmaster's residence, and a number of outbuildings ■were';all destroyed. The contents of_ the buddings were also destroyed, "with the exception of a quantity of furniture frorn the headmaster's residence. Tho [ chapel and the class-rooms ■were not harmed. Tho boys of the school are heavy losers. The sum of £5000 had recently been spent in effecting improvements and additions about the buildings The insurances were £5400 in tho r*ational Insurance Office and £1000 in the Royal Exchange Office. Tho pupils liave been sent to their homes for the present, but temporary arrangements for their_ accommodation will be made in a fortnight. Te Aute College was founded in 1872 by the Ven. Archdeacon Williams, and is administered by a board of trustees. The buildings occupied a splendid situation on the crest of a small hill. The college owns about 7000 acres of land around*Te Aute. This -was granted to the school partly by Sir Georgo Grey's -Government and partly by the Maoris themselves.