The police and Fire Service are investigating as arson a fire that destroyed a house at Taipa that was to become a kohanga reo.
The house, whose owners live in Australia, had been converted for use as a kohanga reo and all the kohanga's property was destroyed. 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 on Sunday, 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 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. 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. 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,"a kohanga reo spokesperson said.
The only good news was that a nearby business had offered premises for the kohanga.