GNEHUNGA HOUSE AFIRE

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 164, 14 July 1930, Page 8

GNEHUNGA HOUSE AFIRE

FRONT DOOR FOUND OPEN. LEFT LOCKED BY OWNER. OPPORTUNE DISCOVERY. An outbreak of fire under suspicious circumstances was discovered shortly after .10 o'clock on Saturday night at the residence of Mr. T. IT. Stone in Princes Street, Onehunga. Mr. Stone and his family left home early in the evening, after locking the front door.

Soon after 10 p.m. one of his daughters returned from the city. She found the front door open, and on entering the kitchen found it was full of smoke. The wallpaper over a cupboard near the ceiling was alight. .Miss Stone enlisted the help of a young man, who extinguished the (lames before much damage was done.

The matter was immediately reported to the police, it is thought by the occupiers that someone entered the house, by a. window and left by the front door. It is reported, that nothing was stolen. PENROSE HOUSE DESTROYED. OCCUPANTS' NARROW ESCAPE. A seven-roomed house in Church Street, Penrose, owned by the .Defence Department, and occupied by Mr. W. Morgan, caretaker of the Penrose rifle range, was destroyed by fire early yesterday morning. Mr. and .Mrs. Morgan had to make a hurried exit in their night attire. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan had retired after returning from the pictures on Saturday evening. Shortly before two o'clock .Mrs. .Morgan awoke to find the room full of smoke and the house blazing. The flames prevented possible access to the telephone and .Mr. Morgan, hampered by an artificial leg, had to hasten some distance to a neighbouring house. The lleniuera brigade was summoned, but (here was no water for firelighting purposes, and the. wooden structure burned fiercely. The contents were . insured for £.'3OO. Shooting trophies valued at £200 were also lost in the lire.

OLD LANDMARK DESTROYED. OCCUPANTS* CLOSE CALL. (13y Telegraph.—Press Association.) CHRLSTCHUfiCH, this day. An old lanclniavkj the Rolleston Hotel, near the junction n, the Main South line and the Midland line, was destroyed by lire early yesterday morning. The licensee. Mr. R. H. Davies, his Avife and three children escaped narrowly with a lew of their belongings.