NORTH AUCKLAND BLAZE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 March 1926, Page 5

NORTH AUCKLAND BLAZE.

BURNED FOR FIVE HOURS.

TOWNSHIP OF KOHUKOHU HARD .HIT,

CBY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.) • AUCKLAND, March 5. A 'disastrous fine, resulting in the total demolition of seven buildings near the waterfront, occurred at Koliukohu, on the Hokianga harbour, late last; night. The fire, which burned for five hours, destroyed, a section of the telegraph and telephone lines, and although the service was partly restored this afternoon great difficulty was experienced this evening in communicating with Koliukohu, which is over 150 miles from Auckland. . From the meagre information available, it was gathered that the fire broke out at eleven o’clock last night, presumably in the premises of Messrs. Cooper and Son, .storekeepers. Although the night was very calm the fire blazed with great vigour and spread at an amazing rate. The town does not possess a water reticulation .service and there is no brigade, but the residents turned out in full force and a bucket brigade was organised, and water obtained from- the harbour nearby was poured on blazing buildings. This, however, had little effect on the fire, which in turn destroyed the Blank of New South Wales premises, the public library, the courthouse, Airs'. Shelford’s tea and dining rooms, an old hall used as a sample room and a back building. Fortunately, a vacant section between the tearefoms and the North Auckland Fanners’ Co-operative Company’s brick building arrested the fire at 'about three o’clock this morning and by four o’clock it had burned itself out.

Most of the owneis and occupiers of the buildings destroyed were heavy losers, although some of the contents were saved. A quantity of books and other effects were saved from the bank building, and some of the furniture ' from the tearooms was removed before the flames bad taken a strong hold, but from what co-uld be gathered not much of the stock in Cooper's store was salvaged. It is -also understood that nothing was saved from the courthouse. While the men fighting the fire removed as much of the contents of the ~ buildings as possible, women formed themselves into a salvage brigade and saved the entire collection of books from the library building. The courthouse is a very okl building, erected in the days when Kohukohu was a busy centre of the timber industry, but it is stated to ibe practically abandoned as most of the court work of the district is now carried out at Rawene. The sample room was formerly the Masonic Hall. j: The fire worked from south- to north - and early in the conflagration the telegraph poles on the south side were burned-through, bringing down -all the wires. All communication with southern points was thus cut off and it was not until almost noon to-day that the service was sufficiently restored to communicate with Kaikohe. Grave fears were entertained at one stage during the night that a large sawmill close to the scene of the fire would -be destroyed, but this was saved, largely as a result of the efforts of the volunteer fire fighters. .

No estimate of the etxent of the damage was .available this evening, but- it was stated that most of the risk was held in the New Zealand Insurance Company.