CHOCOLATE-ALLEY FIRE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 107, 27 July 1927, Page 9

CHOCOLATE-ALLEY FIRE

FIVE STALLS BURNED EXHIBITS NOT AFFECTED Five side-shows were burned out and a sixth put out of commission by a fire which broke out in Chocolate Alley at the Winter Exihibition last night. fpHIS morning the flamboyant line of scally-ball, mimic-rink, rabbit races and automatic bats was represented by a dismal terrace of charred wood, spilled chocolates and fragments of gay cloth. The shows backed on the wall of shed 12, and the heat was intense enough to burn through the back walls of two stalls in that shed occupied by S. Newcomb and Co., and J. R. Simpson without, however, doing much damage. The owner of the sideshows, Mr. J. McCorkindale, left the exhibition between 10.10 and 10.20. About 11.30 the alarm was given, flames having been noticed over the top of the sheds. The city brigade soon overcame the menace luckily before the flames had established a hold among the valuable exhibits of various firms occupying stalls in shed 12. The Are probably began in the rabbit racestall and burned along the flimsies of paper, light cloth and unsubstantial laths of -which the stalls were made. The heat must have been considerable, as the iron-work on the roof of the verandah covering the shows was badly twisted. The alley had to be closed this morning for the purpose of a clean up. The insurances on the side shows were held by the Eagle, Star and British Dominions Company. S. Newcomb’s stall was also insured.