FIRES

Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1929, Page 6

FIRES

AUCKLAND CONVENT OUTBREAK

By Telegraph—Per Press Association.}

AUCKLAND, Sept. 24

The portion of the Star of the Sea Convent at Ho wick which was destroyed by fire yesterday was insured for £2500. and the contents were fully covered, the insurances being in the Phoenix Assurance Coy.

Smouldering ruins and three gaunt chimneys are all that are left of the main building of the Star of the Sea Convent at Ho wick, which was found ablaze at 2.30 a.m. yesterday. Forty residents fought the fire for an hour and a half, but in vain. Four Sisters were sleeping in the building at the time. Sister Gertrude was awakened by the crackling flames and was startled by the reflection of the fire in her bedroom window. She gave the alarm and within a few minutes the 50 little girls who wore sleeping in the dormitory close by were aroused and rushed to safety. In the meantime, the. gardener, Mr P. F. Scholium, and Ins father, started to fight the fire. Within a few minutes residents rushed from all parts of Howick, and a bucket brigade was organised. The whole sky was lit up, the reflection attracting neighbours from all round. With a poor water supply available on the ground, there was no chance of saving the building of eleven rooms. The building had been up many years, and the timber was as dry as tinder, so that it was not surprising that it burned like a bundle of sticks. Well organised gangs managed to save about three-quarters of the furniture. The first things rescued were the sacred images and vessels in the chapel.

While a number of helpers were inside the burning building . rescuing furniture, one of the chimneys came down with a crash. Fortunately, it fell outwards and nobody was hurt. The fire fighters saved the washhouse at. the hack/but the dormitory, in which there were about 60 beds, caught fire and desperate methods were needed to save it. Two of the nurses lost all their belongings. The children of the Convent were taken by bus to the Takapuna Convent, where they will remain until their own place has been rebuilt. GREAT FIRE. I AT SALONIKA. SALONIKA, Sept. 24. Two thousand families are homeless as the result of a great fire, which quickly destroyed fifteen shops and eighty houses.