THE FIRE AT TE AUTE RAILWAY STATION.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7497, 17 October 1895, Page 3

THE FIRE AT TE AUTE RAILWAY STATION.

Full particulars to hand regarding the fire which destroyed Te Aute railway station show that Mr Pickering, together with his brother and a nephew, were at the refreshment roums before the arrival of the 6 p.m. train, the fire was lit in the fireplace in the baok room to prepare Borne teator the arrival of the train. The wood used in the fire was pieces of old cases, and Mr Pickering states that when the three of ihem left the rooms at 6.20 p m , there waa no sign of any fire in the fireplace, although he nays there may have been some few embers left without hia having noticed them. Tha place waa then left safe and Becure as far as he know. The first to discover the place on fire was J_dward Ammundsen, aged seventeen, who with hia mother and Bister, lives oloao by the railway station. He awoke duiing tho night and through the window noticed the reflection of the fire on tho Bide of the hill at tbe back, and on coming outside saw that the refreshment rooms wereon fire, and ho then gave the alarm to the Btation master, who lives close by. Owing to the force of the wind, and the fierceness of the flames, nothing could be done to remove anything from the railway station. It appeared to those who first saw the firo that it started near the fireplace of the refreshment room. The contents of the safe in the station were found to be uninjured.

On Tuesday a boy named John K. Tracey was arrested by Sergeant O'Donovan of Waipawa, on a charge of theft of whisky, from the restaurant rooms, and the accused was brought down by the express yesterday. It is Bjjsp eptcd that this boy is also responsible for the fire.. Np charge has yet been formally brought agajnet him of arson, but the police are now busy working up the evidence.