NO ALARM GIVEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 76, 30 March 1928, Page 7

NO ALARM GIVEN.

HOUSE BUBKED • DOWN. FIRE AT MOUNT ROSKILL. Lack of facilities for giving an alarm resulted in a five-roomed house in Arkell's Road, Mount Roskill, being totally destroyed by fire at a late hour last night. The Mount Roskill lire Brigade stated that they had received no notification of a fire last night when inquiries were made early this afternoon. The house, which was owned by Mr. J. R. Robertson, auctioneer, of Queen Street, and occupied by Mr. F. Robertson, is the second in the district to be destroyed by fire this year in circumstances.

Our Onehunga correspondent reports that Mr. J. R. Robertson, a member of the Mount RoblcUl Road Board, has been agitating for the provision of a penny-in-thc-slot telephone in the Arkell's Road district for some, months past. At a meeting 01 the board some three weeks ago he stated that a house had been burned down long before it was possible for anyone to notify the brigade. The erection of a slot *phone was aa urgent necsesity, ha said, and Mr. Robertson predicted that other houses would be lost in the same way if facilities for giving alarms were not provided. The house, which was valued at £600, was insured in the General Assurance Office for £400. Mr. F. Robertson is a heavy loser, since the contents were not insured. It is stated that, even had the brigade arrived*, there would have been little hope of saving the dwelling, since there is no proper water supply.