FIRES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 16 December 1925, Page 9

FIRES.

MAORI MEETING-HOUSE BURNED. ay Telegraph—Press Association. PALMERSTON N., Dec. 15. The Kikiwhenua Maori Meeting House, for 50 years past a familiar landmark at Awapum, was destroyed by fire this morning. Incendiarism is suspected. The building was in an excellent state of preservation despite its age. It was unoccupied at the time of the fire, the last occupant being Ereni Te Awe Awe, an aged chieftainess who died recently. The building w r as to have been used by the natives at Christmas. The insurance was £3OO. , HEAVY DAMAGE. The heaviest losers at Crust and Crust’s fire in Manse Street on Sunday morning were Messrs Carr and Halley,- jewellery importers, of Wellington, whose representative, Mr D. C. Halley, had £IO,OOO worth of jewellery badly damaged by smoke. It is understood that the stock is fully insured at Lloyds. Mr Halley had intended to pack his stock on Sunday, so as to return to Wellington on Monday. He had been delayed a day in Dunedin at the Exhibition, where ho was erecting a stall. The insurances on the £13,000 stock held by the Woolston Tanneries are not yet available, but the loss is estimated ; to be about £SOO. i The estimated value of the stock in the building is £36,000, and the damage is estimated to bo approximately £IB,OOO.