A SINGULAR AFFAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 142, 17 June 1891, Page 8

A SINGULAR AFFAIR.

(BT TELEGRAPH.— PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

Invekcaegill, this day. At the inquest into the stack fire which occurred at Waimimo on the 19th May, evidence was given that the grain was insured for £150 in the New Zealand Office, and was only worth £42. The accountant of the New Zealand Loan Company, to whom the oats were mortgaged, stated that proof of claim was put in for £136, and this wiped off Penny's liability to them, and would leave him nineteen pounds and ninety baers of saved oats to the good. The coroner said no doubt Penny was better off since the insurance was paid, but he did not think the evidence would ■warrant the jury in finding that they (the father and son) wilfully set fire to the grain. He recommended the jury to make remark on the careless way in which insurance risks are taken, in that there is not the slightest inspection of crops, and ho thought something should be done to preinsurance. The jury found the stocks had been wilfully set on fire by some person or persons unknown, and strongly condemned the frequency with which insurance companies accept risks and pay losses without sufficient investigation. They also expressed the opinion that some evidence should have been called from the office which accepted the risk.