ALLEGED ARSON.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 38, 14 February 1910, Page 8

ALLEGED ARSON.

ARRESTS AT WANGANUL PLUMBER'S STRANGE FIND. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WANGANUI, Sunday. As a sequel to the fire which destroyed the Rutland Hotel on the night of January 22, Joseph Davis and Martin Haynes, proprietor and manager respectively of the jewellery and fancy goods shop in which the outbreak occurred, were arrested last night. At the inquiry held on Wednesday last, the evidence given was such as to lead the jury and Coroner to arrive at the conclusion that the fire resulted from the accidental explosion of gas, and a verdict was returned accordingly. Since the fire, Davis and Haynes have ■been staying at the Arcadia boardinghouse, and Miss Bell Aney, the proprietress, required the services of a man to remedy a leak in the gas service. The workman found it necessary to examine the pipes above the ceiling of the upstairs room. He went through a. trapdoor, and at' the end of the passage, and near the rooms occupied by Davis and Haynes, he discovered one large portmanteau, four paper packages, and two brief bags, which, on examination by the police, were found to contain a miscellaneous assortment of jewellery, fancy goods, and some of the books which were said to have been burned in the fire, including, it is alleged, a day book, containing an entry made on the day the fire occurred, and records of sales for weeks past.

The value of the goods is roughly estimated from £100 to £200. The" stock in the shop at the time of the fire was valued by Davis at £ 2600, and insured for £ 1000. The insurance money has not yet been paid over.