FIRE AT KEREPEEHI.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5329, 21 September 1928, Page 3

FIRE AT KEREPEEHI.

HALL A TOTAL LOSS. EARLY MORNING BLAZE. At a.bo.ut 2 o’clock yesterday morning the Kerepeehi Hall, with all its contents, was completely destroyed by lire. Well ever £2OOO worth of property was lost. The buildin.tr, which was owned' by •Messrs A. J. Innes and W. Herkt, of Kerepeeihi, had be.en let. for the evening to .the. Loyal Kerepeehi Lodge to hold, a concert and da,nce, which t,erm>4ted a little before 1 a.m. Everythtfg seemed safe when 'Mr Herkt left the building, and there W no ;Lj;ign of fire when Mr B. Lyons passed it he hall about ,1.30 a.Jn„ but before he had reached the next corner the glare; from the flames attracted his attention. A crffiwd quickly 'collected, but nothing could be saved. Unsuccessful ef- | forts were made to remove the; engine ' and dynamo from a shed; alongside the building. The fire appeared' to have started ip the gallery or cl'oakrcjoms alongside Within three-quar-ter of an hour there was nothing but a smouldering maSs. The value of the hall and fittings is estimated at over £2500, for the greater part, of the building was only five yea,rs old, and it contained 1 ex " pensive tip-up seats and a very good motion picture machine. There was seating accommodation for over. 300 people. The insurance was £l5OO on rthe building, £lso' on the cinema plant, and £l5O o.n the stock. Severe losses were also sustained by others. The Kerepeehi Oddfellows Lcd'ge lost all its, regalia and furniture estimated to be worth mO.re than £2O. The Kerepeehi branch of the ■piunket. Society lost over £2O worth of appliances, and the Kerepeehi Anglican Ladies’ Guild had about £2O , worth of goods left over from a recent bazaar and' stored in the building. Several Kerepeehi residents had loaned armchairs for use at the; con- . cert in the early part, of the evening, i: and these were destroyed. It is understood that none of these losses is cornered by insurance. The hall piano about twenty dozen cups and saucers belonging to the public were , covered by insurance. There were no picture films in the building at the time, but an expensive programme wa,s at. Mr Innes’ house to be screened the following evening. All .that remains of the cash takings (for the evening of the hall shop is a few halfmelted coins, mostly pennies, which stood the heat much better than the silver. About 400 soft drink battles were, melted into solid masses'. The lo t Ss of its Only hall will be severely felt by the district. Asked yesterday morning if he intended to , re-build, Mr Innes said that he had not consulted his partner, but hi s view was that the people should.be V given an opportunity to build a pubhall. ■ It will be remembered that prior tq the removal of the old hall and the provision of the up-to-date and conn s ; modious building there was considerable agitation to secure a public hall. Algite was secured near the late , bidding.