FIRE AT GORE

Southland Times, Issue 18817, 10 May 1920, Page 5

FIRE AT GORE

MAIN SCHOOL BURNT.

OUTBREAK DISCOVERED IN EARLY MORNING. CAUSE NOT YET KNOWN. Shortly after 2 o’clock on Saturday morning the main Gore Public School took fire, and the building, which was of wood, with an iron roof, was practically only one room remaining. The outbreak apparently started in the south end of the school, in the room occupied by Standard V or Standard VI., where it must have been smouldering for some time. The alarm was given by Mr Joseph Walders, who had just returned from a Croydon social with a number of gentlemen who had been at the function. He was just turning his car at the junction of Trafford and Fairfield streets when he noticed a glare in the room at the south end of the school building, and smoke issuing from the roof. Mr Walders ran his car round the block to the Domain to see if his suspicions were correct, and then proceeded to the fire station and took the motor reel to the fire. The firebell gave only a few' taps and then refused to act. The fire brigade telephone, with which a number of the firemen’s homes arc connected, w r a« rung at the same time, and in a few minutes the whole of the brigade was at work. Having a good hold by this time, the fire spread through the building rapidly despite the efforts of the brigade to confine it, and soon six rooms were blazing ruins. The old room in the north-west end of the building remained standing but was severely damaged, and a new room in course of erection was also badly charred. The origin of the fire is not yet known. The rooms in which it was first discovered were occupied by Standards V and VI, and in none of these were the fires banked up owing to the school being closed on Saturday. The janitoress cleaned out four of the rooms on Friday afternoon. In No. 1 room no fire was discernible in the fireplace and in No. 2 room there was very little. Every' care seemed to have been taken in regard to the fireplaces, and the fenders were in their proper places. It was reported later that a resident who had passed the school about 10 o’clock on Friday night heard knocking in one of the rooms but took no notice. Other residents passed the place shortly before, but nothing attracted their attention. A resident in Onslow street states that she smelt burning timber before bedtime and was so concerned about the matter that she spoke to her husband and had a look in all her rooms before retiring to see if there was anything amiss in her own dwelling. An ex-chairman of the committee, having an experience of the fire in 1896, when the school was totally destroyed, and its records lost, took early action on Saturday morning and had the headmaster’s office broken into and all the school records removed to safety. A quantity of school stationery was also saved. The committee, however, will lose fully £2O worth, as only a third of the year’s supply had been used. The original Gore Public School was totally destroyed by fire on July 3, 1896, and a tender was let for the construction of a new building three months later. This was erected and consisted of four class rooms. Since then various additions and alterations had been made. It was a modem school in every way and it had a roll number of just 500. A goorl deal of the school furniture was saved and this will be used in the temporary shelter that will be arranged. Mr Stevenson, the secretary of the Southland Education Board, proceeded to Gore on Saturday morning to make arrangements for the accommodation of the pupils so that instruction will not be interrupted.