BURGLARY AND FIRE

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 194, 17 August 1931, Page 6

BURGLARY AND FIRE

Bad Luck Dogs Colonel A. E. Loach. HOUSE DESTROYED TO-DAY. Bad luck has dogged Colonel A. E. Loach recently. When he returned to Christchurch on Friday from Hawke’s Bay where he had been on a business trip, he found that the place had been burgled and goods to the value of £3O had been stolen. This morning he awakened from sleep to find his house, “ Helmia,” 145, Breezes Road, Aranui, ablaze. The place, and all its contents, to the value of about £2OOO, was destroyed. Awakened by Noise. Colonel Loach was alone in the house last evening. He awakened first at 2.30 a.m., and not feeling well, rose and heated some water. At 4.30 a.m. he awakened again to hear noises at the back of the house. Thinking that burglars had again visited the place, he got quietly from his bed and went down the passageway to the kitchen. As he threw open the door a cloud of smoke billowed out to meet him. Alarmed, he went across the road to the house of Mr H. H. Cook and roused the occupants, who went immediately to his assistance. The house, an old one, usas by now ablaze from end to end, and in spite of the efforts of an energetic band of neighbours who threw buckets of water on it from a fountain a few feet away, nothing was saved. Colonel Loach himself escaped clad only in a pair of pyjamas. He was accommodated later at the home of Dr Stevens. House a Wreck. This morning the dwelling in Breezes Road was a wreck. All that remained of the big home, with its large rooms and valuable furniture, was a sagging front and side verandah, standing bleak against a heap of smouldering wood and plaster, and four untouched chimney stacks. At the stage when Colonel Loach first saw it, the fire could probably have been subdued by a properly equipped brigade, but, as'it was outside all fire areas, this assistance was not forthcoming. The house was insured in the State Fire Office for £925 and the contents for £3OO in the Union Assurance Company. Some outbuildings not damaged by the fire were insured for £SO. The cause of the fire is not known.