FIRE IN MINIATURE SPEEDWAY

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 105, 28 January 1938, Page 13

FIRE IN MINIATURE SPEEDWAY

Damage Exceeds £250 MEN AWAKE SURROUNDED BY FLAMES Dominion Special Service. Auckland, January 27. Expensive electrical equipment other appointments were damaged to the extent of more than £250 as the resuit of a fire which occurred in a miniature electrical sjieedway erected on . the Mission Bay amusement reserve just before Christmas. The cause of the outbreak has not been ascertained, but the blaze apparently started under the floor near the office and workshop in which the electrical control appliances were situated. Awakened by flames which surrounded his camp stretcher, Mr. C. Collis, one of the employees at the speedway, hurriedly summoned the caretaker, who was asleep in the office and whose bed was actualy on fire. Together, they moved ten miniature cars to safety at the opposite end of the building, after which fire engines from Tamaki and Remuera were summoned. On their arrival the fire was quickly suppressed. All the rear portion of the premises, which consisted of light structural timber covered by tent canvas, was gutted, most of the electrical gear was irreparably damaged, and several motors were damaged by water. Heavy floor joists and wall supports were charred and a half tent top which was used for the first time at Mission Bay was burnt. “Had it not been for our precaution of keeping someone on the premises all the'time it is possible that everything would have been lost,” said the proprietors, Messrs. A. E. Bowler and J. Sullivan, Brisbane. “The loss is a decided setback, but we hope to be able to carry out repairs in time to reopen the speedway at the week-end.” Insurances amounting to £5OO held by the New Zealand Insurance Company.