A HEAVY LOSS

Southland Times, Issue 18830, 25 May 1920, Page 5

A HEAVY LOSS

JOINERY WORKS BURNT. BUILDING AND VALUABLE MACHINERY DESTROYED. At an early hour this morning some of the girls at the Y.W.C.A. Hostel in Beaumont street were awakened by excessive heat and on examination they discovered that a workshop next door owned and occupied by George Henry as a carpentry and joinery business was ablaze. The building and its contents were totally destroyed, the loss being estimated at £IOOO. The alarm was given by Miss N. Williams, the secretary of the hostel, but when the brigade arrived on the scene the fire had such a hold that all hope of saving the building, which is on the corner of Ythan and Beaumont streets, was past. Fortunately the hostel is built in brick. If it had been constructed of wood it is probable that it would also have been attacked by the fire. As it was all the windows on the side facing the workshop were smashed by the heat.

Equipped with all the latest machinery and well stocked with material for jobs that were in hand, the building and its contents represent a big loss to Mr Henry, the material alone being valued at £4OO. It is stated that the building was insured for £4OO in the Queensland Office up to the end of April, but the policy was then allowed to expire and there was no cover on it. Speaking to a Southland Times reporter this morning Mr Henry said that he left the building at 5.15 p.m. on Monday and everything then was quite safe. The place had been cleared of shavings and there was no fire. He used a gas engine for the supply of power and it was cut off before he closed the place up last evening. He was, therefore, utterly unable to advance any theory as to the cause of the outbreak.