No doubt kohanga fire was arson

The police and Fire Service are investigating the fire that destroyed a house at Taipa early on Sunday morning as arson.

The house, whose owners live in Australia, had been converted for use as a kohanga reo. It was to have undergone a final licensing inspection by the Ministry of Education today, and was expected to open, with a full roll of 14 children, next week.

The alarm was raised at 4.06am, but there was nothing the Mangonui Fire Brigade could do to save the building. The walls were still standing by the time the fire was extinguished, but the interior was completely gutted.

Specialist fire investigator Craig Bain said yesterday that he had no doubt the fire had been deliberately lit. Police had found cigarette butts, an empty rum bottle and fireworks, of a kind not sold locally, at the scene, while Mr Bain said he had uplifted further physical evidence that would now be analysed.

Police were also hopeful of obtaining CCTV footage from a nearby shop to aid the investigation.

Lavinia Sykes, who chairs the Ngati Kahu Te Kohanga Reo Trust, said the fire was devastating.

The kohanga had just moved from premises at Waitaruke, near Kaeo, and could not return there, that building having been condemned.

One of the teachers said everyone had been looking forward to the new beginning.

"The old [building] was pakaru," she said, "and moving into this place was like winning Lotto."

While the centre had not yet been licensed or officially opened, all the kohanga property, from computers and a lounge suite to the children's taonga, had been moved in. All had been destroyed.

"Everything was going so smoothly, and now this," Ms Sykes said.

The only good news for the kohunga was that a nearby business had offered premises for it to use, but that still left the problem of replacing all the equipment that had been lost.