INQUEST ON THE FIRE AT THE UNION BANK.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1810, 11 May 1874, Page 3

INQUEST ON THE FIRE AT THE UNION BANK.

is inquest was held at the Oourfc-house, jrahamstown, on Saturday on the late ire at the Union Bank. Mr J. E. Mac lonald was the Coroner, and the following were sworn as th< ury.—John Warmoll, John Frater Wessel Snoops, James -Ninnis, W. H, 31drey, John Bullock, James' Home Alexander Hume, John Thompson, A Brodie, J. Mahoney, J. flennelly. Mr Warmoll, J>P.> was chosen as fore, nan. Mr R. Hudson attended on bebal )f the South British Insurance Com jany; Mr W. Danes on behalf of the National; and Mr D. E. Gellion for the Victoria. The Coroner said that if ai ;ha conclusion of _ the proceeding! ;hey could not arrive at a _ verdief is to how the k fire originated ie would ask them to adjourn for a week, is through the publication of the. proseeding, additional evidence might come brward. ' ; Mr Bullen conducted the examination, J. D. Grant deposed: I am agent ol :he Union Bank of Australia at Gra. lamstown. I recollect Monday night asfc. I sleep in a cottago attached to the >ank. The plan produced shows a ;round plan of the bank and adjacenl jremises. I went to bed in the room narkod "Mr Grant's bed-room" about me o'clock. I waa the only person ocspying the bank premises that night. I :ee the building marked "meltiug-liousa." '. was in it between four and five 1 o'clock in Monday afternoon, 'or a little after, Hr Oarrick, the assayer, was with me hen. There was no fire lighted in the qelting-house on Monday. Everything vas right when we left, as far as '. could see. It is usual to keep the nelting-house locked. I do not know vhefcher it was locked when we left. That 3 the messenger's duty. The key ia ilaced in a place only known to ourelves. I never, again entered the melt-ag-house. To my knowledge I do not ;now that anybody. else did. In the urner of the assay-room there was an ,gsay furnace. Ido not think there had lean' a fire in the assay furnace since Thursday or Friday week before the fire, [here was no one in but Mr Oarrick and nyself. The messenger uses the melt-ng-house when not employed at the >ank. There is only one door to the nelting-hpuse. There was a fire in the nelting-furnace on the Saturday before he fire, the 2nd of May. Prom the time Mr Oarrick and I left there wa3 no one n the melting-house to my knowledge, lor in the bank either. Before I went to >ed I did not go in the yard. The back loor is locked aud barred from the inside. ". went in by fcliefront door,andwent tobed. '. know that the back door" at the end of he passage was secured that night. I ocked the front door in the inside. I vas woke out by a great noise and knockng : at the back and front doors. The irst knocking was, I believe, at the back loor. I got up and went to the back loor. When I opened it there was no me there. I si-v one of the Advertises nen, Mr George Cooper. He was in the rard. I then went to the front door, yhere I saw Mr A. Bruce. I gave him lome things to take away. He took some pictures I wanted saved. That was the irst I saw of Mr Bruce. By that time ;he house had' become nearly full of people, assisting to carry away things. I »ave a look at the back, and saw the netting-house on fire, fhe fire was nostly on, the inside, but smoke and Ire, were coming out. The fire ivas at the further end of the ouilding from the furnaces. It seemed is if the whole interior of the building ivas on fire. During the manipulation of ihe gold in melting, there id no part done it the corner next the tank, whore I saw ihe fire come out when I first looked. The acids are not usually kept there. The floor of the melting-house is wood. The melting-furnace stands on a brick foundation, and also the assay furnace. I was there all the time the fire was burning, assisting to save as rauohas possible. It is possible some one might have been .smoking in the melting-house on Monday. There are a good many rats and mice there. The floods coming up at high tides kill them. I have taken nests of rats;but from below the flooring. I could not give the jury any opinion as to the cause of the fire. I never knew nitric acid to ignite on being spilt upon wood. I do. not think it would. The premises were insured in the Victoria and fioyal. It is not insured through me. By a juror: There was no gold kept in the melting-house. The windows of the melting-house are generally fastened,_ but by breaking it, any person could get in. By Mr Bullen: There is a gatewaj leading into Queen-street, which is barred. I could not say whether it was barred on Monday night. ; By a juror: At the back of the melt-ing-house the boards did not come quite close to the ground. i ; , ' William Oarrick deposed: lam assayei at the branch of the Union Bank at Grahamsfcown; On Saturday last I had fire in the melting-furnace. It was not used for. melting, and was put out again. The assay furnace was not lighted for some days before that. In assaying, I used acids of different kinds-nitric acid, sulphuric acid, and hydrochloric acid, There was a considerable quantity ol nitric acid, in the melting-house. These were kept on shelves near the assay fur nace. I cannot say that there' were nc matches in that room. There was' some small wood and paper in the melting, house for the purpose of lighting the fire, That was kept in the corner of the melt, ing-house near the Advertiser office, next the tanks. I think there was some kerosene there. Nitric acid generally comes in boxes packed in sawdust. I cannot say .whether any of that sawdust was in the melting-house. The acids are in large bottles, containing nine and a-hali to ten pounds. Some,'acids were con. tained in smaller bottles, and these were in the assay office. Ido not reside on the bank premises. I was last in the melting-house about' half-past five on Monday evening with Mr Grant. There was some one else there with us, but I cannot recollect who it was. I saw no sign of fire, and every thingappeared to be in its proper place. I locked the door myself, leaving a small dog in. The dog was not tied. There were two windows looking into Queen-street. The bottles containing the acids were close to the windows. The shelves were not at the same end of the house as the windows. The first shell would be about five feet high. Thero was a counter iu the assay-room. I should say that the dog could not get oa the

table or. on -the counter. It was only about a month or six weeks old. The floor underneath the shelves was wooden. I locked the melting-house, and the key was placed in a position only known to myself, Mr Grant, and the messenger. I was not near the bank premises after leaving that night.: I was called during ;t'ne fire. I reside at Parawai. When I got. to the bank it was in full blaze. I have lost books and apparatus in with my profession to the amount of £50. I oannot give the jury any idea as' to the cause of that tire. I should say that i nitric acid spilt upon wood would not cause fire. It would not cause fire with any other acid in the melting-house. Ido not know that there were any chemicals in the assay office that would cause fire, or any three, or all of them together. Nitric acid spilt upon phosphorus might ignite. Nitric acid coming into contact with wood would not ignite—it would char the wood, but nothing more. If very strong, it would ignite sawdust, but what we had was not strong. Matches would ignite coming in contact with it, 11 should think, at the strength we had it in the melting-house. . • ■ By Jurymen: We used coke in the melting-furnace. The fire was not put out. It is extremely improbable there could have been fire on the Monday. There may have boon matches, in the assay-room. The acid we have is the usual strength of commercial acid. It was quite possible some might be knocked off the shelf by rats. . We keep no specie or bullion in the asiay-room, except what is required for assay purpose of the value of £3 or £4.

, Oliver Deanfteposed: lam messenger at the Union Bank, Grahamstown. Ido I not reside on the premises. When not i actually employed about the bank, I > spend most of my time in the meltinghouse. I might have been sit or eight i times in and out to the melting-house on : Monday last. I light the fires and trim ' the lamps for the bank. Ido this in the melting-house. We only use one lamp, aud I never had to light thafc ; We do not keep kerosene in the melting-house, but in the,coke shed. I say positively there was' not a tin of kerosene -there on Monday. Wo have left off burning kerosene, so I do not have to clean lamps now at all, consequently do not have any cloths. Mr Grant burns candles. We keep small wood for lighting the fires in the melting-house at the side next the Advertises office. We had about enough there on Monday to light four fires. There were matches kept in the meltinghouse. There was a box near the furnaoe and another in a drawer at the end next the Advertiser office. , There were matches occasionally kept in the assayroom, but not as a rule. I could not say whether there were any there on Monday last, fdo not smoke. _. I tried it once, but that was since the fire. I never smoked in the meltinghouse. I lit a 'fire in the melting-house on Saturday. We leave the fires open, and they go out. We never throw any water on the fires. When I was in on Monday I emptied the furnace, and there was then no fire in it nor no embers. 'I sifted the stuff which I took out of the furnace outside the building. The remaiader, which I saved, I put in a large box outside the melting-house behind the house, about three feet from the chimney. There was no fice in the stuff which tput in this box. ' I was last in the meltinghouse at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. There was no person with me: There had been others besides Mr Grant and Mr Oarrick in the melting-house during the day, but lam not certain at what time. I did ntf see any matches lighted, but I think Mr Grant was smoking in the afternoon. I locked the door when I left the house. There are no cats about the meltinghouse, but there are a great mauy rats. I never try experiments 'with the aeids, nor meddle with them. I was at the fire on Tuesday morning. When I got there the melting-house -was wholly in flames, and the back part of the bank. By the Jury: Rats could get into the drawer in waictuthe m itches werei I swept the melting-house, and put the sweepings at the back. I never knew 1 rats to knock down the bottles. There was a little dog in the melting-house when I locked it up. At this stage the inquiry was adjourned until Monday at one o'clock.