BURNING OF CONVENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 April 1921, Page 5

BURNING OF CONVENT.

MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR. Auckland, March 29. The burning of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Convent, which is situated on the Great North Road, just inside the second Grey Lynn car section, and its ultimate destruction by tlie flames, came as a terrifying interruption to the midnight Adoration which was proceeding at the adjacent church very early on Good Friday morning. It was only* a few minutes after midnight that a gentleman, proceeding to the service, which s is held in accordance, witlr the custom on the night before Good Friday, saw a small flicker in the lower part of the Convent, which is next door to the church lie was about to enter. Almost instantly he saw a stranger close to the seat of the fire, but the fellow, instead of answering the earnest question addressed to him, hurried away. Turning back to the Convent building, the gentleman was horrified to observe that it Was really on fire, and as its timbers had been set together over thirty years ago, the flames soon had a fast hold. He rushed into the church and alarmed the congregation gathered there, but their efforts to check the fierce burning of the old building by throwing buckets of water were qot successful. NUNS AND CHILDREN ESCAPE. The Convent, of course, was habited by several of the St. Joseph Sisters oi Mercy and six small children, all girls, who were forced to flee in their nightclothes. Gallantly the Sisters put the terror-stricken children outside, and saw them safely in the arms of the men outside, before they gave a thought to their own predicament, then, »n the face of the flickering flames, they all escaped, each as best she could, one of the ladies, an invalid, being forced to slide down a verandah post. Though it was so sensational an occurrence this escape of the inmates occupied scarcely more than a few minutes, so.*that Uhe inside of the building was deserted when the City Fire Brigade came dashing with its usual promptitude, and soon had five great jets of water spraying over the flaming building. But from the very fir k st thiw was no hope, and the whole of the Convent, worth nearly £5OOO, was a wreck? Although apparently it started under the main floor, the fire burned upwards and did not spread to any great extent till it began to envelop the second story. Consequently the fittings of the ground floor were hot utterly destroyed, though they were damaged so much as tb make them almost useless. The top floor burned fiercely, and the flatnes were not completely drowned for nearly two hours' Meanwhile the children were received in the neighbouring houses, where they passed the remainder of the night, being transferred to St. Mary’s Convent, Ponsonby, on Good Friday The Sisters were taken to their own Lome at St. Benedict’s. A MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN.

The origin of the blaze 'is still more or Igss of a mystery, although the surrounding circumstances are sufficiently doubtful to warrant an investigation of the affair by the police. The mysterious stranger is a suspicious factor, and besides this there is absolutely no .rea-

son yet apparent why the fire should break out under the ground floor, at a place easily accessible from the street, and also where neither gas nor electric wiring, nor any other fire-producing agency has eVer been used. Bishop Cleary drew attention to the fact tdiat about a month ago a false

alarm was given to the citj fi<e station that St. Josph’s Convent was ablaze, and also about the same time it was reported that the Roman Catholic Convent at, Remuera was on fire. Happily these reports were not then true, but it is a coincidence that the ’previous false alarm was given from the same box as the true call on Friday morning. Curiously enough, the brigade had just returned from a call from this same alarm box. They had been called to attend to a burning butcher’s cart in the neighbourhood. The burned Convent building is one of a series of four. There is a school next door, then St. Joseph’s Church, and then the Presbytery. The school and the destroyed Convent have both an interesting history, and it is remembered that at the time of the dreadful outbreak of influewa, in Auckland both these buildings wJB furnished and used by the Sisters of St. Joseph* as temporary hospitals for the sick. The building itself was insured for £lOOO with the Liverpool and London and Globe, and the furnishings for another £3OO in the same office, though both ar?, estimated to be worth much more than these figures. I RE-BUILDING PLAN LAUNCHED. Naturally a building used for such a purpose as St- Joseph’s Convent cannot long be left in its present state, ao a plan of re-building has even now been inaugurated. To this the Roman Catholic community has made immediate response, and a considerable sum towards the cost of constructing a better and bigger Convent has already been’ promised. Meanwhile the police are searching for anything that will throw some light the of this WAstarious fire.