ATTEMPTED INCENDIARISM.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 137, 12 June 1922, Page 7

ATTEMPTED INCENDIARISM.

FIRE IN TOWN HAH. EXTINGUISHED BY BRIGADE. A WELLINGTON vSKNSATIOX. (By Telegraph-Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. A deliberate attempt wub made on Sunday to burn the Town Hall down. A bedroom in the quart ere occupied by Mr. Leslie, the caretaker, had been entered and ransacked, and then set on nre. When discovered the (lames had a pood hold, but the brigade extinguished them in time to prevent serious damage to the building. It wae then found that other rooms had been visited, and much wanton damage done by smashing china and ornaments in guch s> way n5 to surest the action of a lunatic rather than a mere robber. A man had previously been cccii acting in a auspicious manner in the Town Hall building, where preparations for a bazaar were in progress. He was put off the premises, but returned and wjui ordered out again. Then lie was seen to p-o upstairs towards Mr. Leslie's quarters. A cine-ma man noticed a smell of tire, ami simultaneously Master Turpis, Mr. .Leslie's stepson, returned and found the place full of smoke. The boy ran across the street to the lire brigade and gave the alarm. He noticed a stranger in the bedroom throwing water on the fire, but in the confusion that ensued this man disappeared. Mr. Leslie was not insured.