£17,000 FIRE LOSS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23700, 5 July 1940, Page 6

£17,000 FIRE LOSS

600 BALES; OF WOOL PURCHASE BY BRITAIN FIERCE BLAZE AT NAPIEIi MACHINERY ALSO BURNED [nr TELEGRAPH —OWN COT?RESPONDENT] NAPIER, Thursday Wool destined for the United Kingdom and valued at £12,000 was destroyed when the building in which it was housed was destroyed by firo early this morning. Between COO and 800 bales of wool were in the building, which was occupied by tho Farmers' Wool Scouring Company at Awatoto, near Napier, on the main Napier-Hast-ings road. The firo started in the middle of tho building among the stored wool, somo of which was baled and the remainder lying loose for scouring. Almost immediately the interior became a blazing inferno. The back and side walls collapsed with the fierceness of the heat, leaving only the front concrete wall standing. . The last men to leave the building were three employees who "left at 9.30 o'clock la f st night and the outbreak was n6t discovered until 3 a.m., when it Was burning fiercely. Owing to there being no water'supply it' was impossible to'fight.the flames. . The destruction of the wool means a direct loss to the Imperial Government, which had purchased it under the commandeer scheme. Locks, bellies, pieces and necks comprised the 600 to 800 bales. The building was equipped with modern machinery, the salvaging of which is unlikely. The loss of the plant and the building, which was owned by Mr. L. Wood, of Napier, is estimated at £SOOO, a small insurance j being held by Lloyds.