DESTRUCTION OF THE HIGH SCHOOL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9183, 6 April 1910, Page 5

DESTRUCTION OF THE HIGH SCHOOL.

INCENDIARISM SUSPECTED. A thrill of dismay ran through the town as tho news spread rapidly that tho High School was ablaze. Situated so far from the fire station, some time elapsed before the Brigade was on tho scene, but well before it arrived it was evident that the fine building was doomed to destruction. In a very short time a huge mass of flame and flame-lit smoke was rolling skyward, and assisted by a westerly breeze it made rapid headway. The fire was discovered by two or three people simultaneously. Mrs A. W. Loot, wife of the custodian and gardener, noticed from her dining room window a glare in the windows of the school, and Mr Leet was apprised of the fact. Ho immediately rushed across to the building, opened the front door, and found tho quadrangle rapidly filling with smoke and flame. The fire appeared to have its seat in the boys' lavatory on the northern side of tho building, and Mr Leet seized one of tho buckets of water kept for emergency, and emptied it on the flames. They wore, however, too well entrenched to be subdued by so small an attack, and the custodian, finding he could do nothing, rang the school bell. Thus alarmed, the occupants of Mr J. E. Vcrnon's house rushed out and saw the flames just making their way out of the back of the building. By tho time tho rector and his staff were on tho spot the fire had swept through the quadrangle, entered almost every room, and was breaking its way out through windows on all sides of the building. Tho arrival of the Fire Brigade under Superintendent Warner saw tho flames in almost complete mastery of tho whole of the eastern end of the school. Luckily, to complete their work of destruction, they had to beat back against a fairly strong westerly breeze, and so it was soon apparent that there was some hope of saving at least the science room in tho western wing and the detached cookery room and gynmashun at tho rear of tho school.

The Brigade made desperate efforts to save Mr Vernon's office, wherein were stored all the echool records. Streams of water were poured into the little room, and endeavours made to penetrate smoke and flame, but too fierce a furnace was roaring round it, and it had to be left till the flames were subdued. The Brigade was considerably hampered in the matter of water, some of the leads of hose- being 400 feet long. This meant, of course, a reduction in pressure, and under the circumstances they did extremely well in defending the science room and keeping it practically intact. With the fire at its height the sight was perhaps the most magnificent yet seen here. Situated as the school was in a solitary position, and affording as it did such fuel for a. great conflagration, an awesome spectacle was provided, especially for those who made their way from Grey street across the paddocks. A freeh breeze lifted the great flame mass slantwise across the dense blackness of the sky; above this lurid glare, and tinted 'to an angry coppery red, there rolled a majestic cumulus smoke cloud, stretching itself right across the fields to Grey street, and raining heavy showers of spnrks in its pathway. The landscape around was lit with an uncanny light, ■and compared to this colossal bonfire the surrounding crowds of spectators shrank to the dimensions of a swarm of "bees, while the firemen with their little jets of water looked futile and insignificant. THE LOSS. It was not till the light of day revealed the wholesale destruction wrought that any adequate idea could be obtained of the great loss suffered by the town and district in the destruction of the school. The building was erected in 1904 at a cost of over £2000. -Since then, to meet rapidly-growing ' requirements, it has been constantly added to and improved, and its value yesterday was estimated at over £-3500. As the insurance totalled only £2175 (held by the Phoenix office), it will bo seen that there will be a substantial loss to the Board. Mr W. H. Collingwood, the chairman of the Board, informs us that it will cost at least £6000 to replace the building in brick. The Board is somewhat peculiarly situated, being one of only three of its kind in the Dominion. It has no endowments, and evi dently no claim upon the Education De-. partment's fund for rebuilding, as is the case with ordinary Education Boards. But it is hardly likely the Government will allow so necessary an institution to remain in its present condition for long. It is pleasing to note that in a search of the ruins of the rector's office this morning some of the more valuable school records were recovered, including the school roll from its inception. They arc much damaged by fire and water, but still will be legible. Another interesting discovery among the ruins was the school athletic challenge cup. and on it also the names of the various holders are still dcciphorOver 130 rifles belonging to the cadet corps were burned, and their distorted barrels are all that remain. All the uniforms of one of the companies were destroyed also. Fortunately the 6000 rounds of ammunition were stored in a special room in the gymnasium, and those were consequently saved. About £3 in cash was also recovered from the ruins, and the boy's will be delighted to learn that the rector's strap came through a fiery ordeal rather improved than otherwise as an instrument of chastisement. The maximum thermometer was also recovered, but it had ceased to record the rising temperature very early in the evening. AJI the teachers have suffered more or less through last night's sensation. Their gowns were all destroyed, while cachet them had a collection of books and otner things, sonic of which could not be replaced. THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE.

The most sensational part of the evening's proceedings was the report given io~ the masters by two of the first arrivals of (lie scene, Messrs Davis and Young. Thev stated that on rushing roumf to Iho'roar of the building, they discovered i\:vd owe of the panes of glass in the boys' lavatory had been

cut clean out of its frame, and that they could get into the school through the opening. ' The fire undoubtedly started in the lavatory. Mr Lect states that ho and Mr Anderson, one of the masters, went through . the .school together at five o'clock, and then everything was safe. There had been no fires for months in the building. All these facts point to incendiarism of a most wanton nature.