AUCKLAND FIRE

Grey River Argus, 4 October 1934, Page 5

AUCKLAND FIRE

NEW FIRM’S LOSS. THRILL FOR FOOTBALL CROWD. (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, October 3. A fire which broke out at Nicholls Bros., Ltd., range makers, Stanley St., this afternoon, spread with remarkable rapidity. The building was badly damaged, and machinery and stock valued at about £3OOO suffered to the extent of about £lOOO. The loss to the proprietors, Messrs F. C- White and G. Luckman, who have been associated with the firm for over 30 years, and took it over about five years ago, is serious, as the machinery and stock were not insured. White also lost £l5 in notes, the money being burned, with his coat, which was hanging in the motor room. The building, which is owned by the former proprietors, Messrs H. Nicholls and S. Nicholls, is also believed not to be covered by insurance. The fire, from which a thick column of smoke issued, provided an additional thrill for spectators who were watching a League football match at Carlaw Park, between the visiting Australian club team and a combined Ponsonby team.

Boys who were playing in the cur-tain-raiser feared, the fire might spread to the sheds and offices of the Auckland Rugby League, and they left the field to get their clothes from the dressing sheds.