LOSS BY FIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24825, 23 February 1944, Page 4

LOSS BY FIRE

MODERN SHOP BLOCK KAUKAPAKAPA OUTBREAK (0.c.) HELENSVILLE, Tuesday Extensive and in many cases irreplaceable stocks of general goods of almost every description were destroyed by fire last night when a modern block of shops owned by J?. Dye and Sons, general storekeepers, was burned to the ground at Kaukapakapa. The shops destroyed, which occupied an area of about 600() square feet, were insured with the New Zealand Insurance Company, Limited, for £'2ooo. The insurance on stock and plant was £2IOO. An adjoining building used by the Union Bank of Australia was severely damaged by lire. Established in 1872, the firm of F. Dye and Sons has for many years served residents in a wide area north of Helensville with general goods Seven miles north of Helensville, it is the only general store between that town and Tauhoa, 30 miles further north on the West Coast road. With almost 1000 customers registered for the supply of rationed goods, the business of the firm included the sale of groceries, drapery, hardware, grain and produce. A butchery business, supplied with meat from the company's farm, was run in conjunction with the general store. _ The fire was noticed at about 9.40 p.m., by which time the buildings were blazing fiercely in the strong wind. There was no rain at the time. As there is no water supply in the district it was impossible to fight the flames. The shops were destroyed in just over an hour. . Endeavours would be made to obtain temporary- premises as soon as possible, said the manager, Mr. H. Dye, tonight, so that the distribution of essential supplies could be continued. An okl garage belonging to the company was used for the sale and despatch of perishable goods which arrived to-day.