WILFULLY SET AFIRE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 26 November 1928, Page 10

WILFULLY SET AFIRE

PRINCES PRIVATE HOTEL. VERDICT OP CORONER. CONCLUSION OF EVIDENCE. ‘‘l find that the building was wilfully set iilire by some person or person®,’* Such was the verdict returned, without comment, by Mr. R. IV. Tate, 53!., as Coroner, on the conclusion of the inquiry held at Hawera on Saturday into the circumstances surroiind-i-ig Mi;* < utheraks of lire, discovered in an incipient stage in the Princes Private Hotel in Princes Street, Hawera, at 8 o’clock on the evening of October 11. The hearing of lengthy evidence occupied the Coroner .for a lull day. Continuing his evidence, the earlier ! : /:ru:i o; which was reported on Saturday, Detective Meikiejohn, who was the '.sixth of the nine witnesses called, said his suspicions were aroused, and he thought the matter should he investigated when he visited the home of Clifford Rea.

In the room containing the two single beds mentroneci in the statement taken from Clifford Rea, and', referred to in the latter’s evidence,, "the detective found three mattresses on one bed and two on the other. Under one of tlio beds were twob'ags of sugar and cute of flour. These ,would not Imre been discernible if tlie overhanging (over had not been lifted. There wore three trunks in the room. One, wlii li was locked, belonged to Mrs. Curetn. A number of single blankets were in a corner-of the room, others were folded up on one of the beds, the total being 17. A number of pillows without covers were also on a bed. Clifford Rea had admitted that practically everything except a few personal efferts and the carpet on the floor were goods which were brought to him from the Princes Street house. STOCK OF GROCERIES Beneath material in a drawer of the duchess were a number of articles of groceries. In the washhouse the detective saw a wooden box packed with clothing. A- 251 b hag of flour was lying in the bottom of the box. Two •or three boxes were packed with various utensils. There were also two iron bedsteads and a single and a double wire mattress. Clifford Rea had informed the detective, in reply to inquiry, that the goods referred to came from the Princes Street house, the bedsteads and wire mattresses sfinr months previously*. Another box of sundry articles and a single wire mattress was on the back verandah, which Rea said came from the Princes Street house, as well as two kapoc mattresses in the bathroom and a 701 b bag of sugar in a cupboard under the sink. About three parts of another hag sugar, part of a 251 b bag of flour, ana a hag of oatmeal were in another cupboard. These, Rea had said, were Ins own effects, which he had secured from Bullock's Raisins and sultanas, bottles of sauce, tins of coffee ana other things were said by Rea to have been brought from the Princes Street house.

Clifford Rea had accompanied the detective and Constable Mullan to lb.Princes Street house. The detective informed Mrs. Rea that a large quantity of household effects and groceries had been found in her son’s house, and stated that he wanted to know something about the groceries particularly. She said she had given the groceries to her son. Together with her husband, she declined to make any further statement, as they had been' to sec a solicitor. Asked by the detective if she had been with her mother to Clifford’s house to unpack goods, Thelma Rea hud said she had not. Her mother interposed, “Yes you did, Bonnie.’’ To the detective Mrs. Rea had said: “Well, anyway, a lot of these goods were taken there last Friday.’’ VALUE OF GOODS REMOVED Up to this tilne nothing had been said by, Mr. or Mrs. Rea about the removal of goods to their son’s house, though Mrs. Rea contended she had told the detective before about some furniture being taken to Clifford’s place. A valuer had Informed the detective that the value of the goods removed to Clifford Rea’s house was about £SO.

After seeing Mr. Wilton, witness i saw Clifford in the presence of Coni stable Mullan at the shop. In reply I to the detective Clifford had said: “i did not take any goods to my home on Friday last.” That was part of the statement which Clifford had denied signing. Reverting to the visit to the house the detective had asked Clifford to read the statement written by the detective. The latter had admitted the statement was correct, and a. ter being warned to make sure, had looked back through the pages and signed it. It would he wro.ig to state that the detective was in Clifford’s house for three hours. He had gone there a little fitter three o’clock, and after ensuing inquiries at the Princes Streei house and Bullock’s shop had had rereshment at the station before catching the north train at 6 o’clock. After being told by Mrs. Rea that groceries had been sent by her to her . on’s house, witness had informed Mr. Wilton that lie diet not want any inquiries to affect Clifford’s position at the shop. , Mr. Wilton did not make a statement in the presence of the detective that he did not think there was too big a quantity of groceries in the] house tor a private family. | EVIDENCE REFUTED "I was invited into the house*. The e.idenre of Clifford Rea as to the* manlier in which I approached him is not correct,” .said the detective when c s~rxumined by Mr O’Dea. The statements of Rea that the detective

-ns trying to make him admit lie In j stolen the groceries was not altoeethei correct. The presence of the groceries I there under the conditions made il I auspicious that Clifford Rea had stolen ; them, as the detective did riot think j it feasible that they were a gi.t from Rea’s mother. The detective may have suggested in the presence of Mr. W ilton that Rea had taken the goods he longing to the shop, hut it would be incorrect to suggest that lie had trie! i to lniily Rae into saying he took them. I It was necessary to go to the I;os i pital on the Saturday to interview j Mrs. Careen, as she was deeply interested in the hoarding house. There ■ hud been no reluctance on the part o' the matron to allow the detective ti interview Mrs. ( ureen Had the ; matron objected, the, detective would .not have interviewed Mrs. Cureen, and lie would not, have had the visit G , Ciflbrd Rea’s house. I Between the Saturday and the Monday the detective’s opinions as to the origin of the fires find altered. ,lt wa.* incorrect to state that the- detective blamed different parties for causing the

fire. 1 If he,.blamed anyone it. would , tie-.*-Mrk *'■NR-PlrA\ • * The detective had. suggested that Clifford -R-ea- was a party to -the suspicious fire by taking the goods to lus house. Clifford Rea had denied knowiugv being a party to it. out had said that, looking at it afterwards, he could see there was something in tlio wind or something wrong. “Mr. O’Den’s clients are will ally misleading him if they say that I said Mr. Rea crawled down to the fire brigade.” said the detective, in replying further to counsel. “I knew Mr. Rea mn ' SALE BY PROPRIETRESS. Sarah Elizabeth Curreen, proprietress of the private hotel, said- she had ourcliused the goodwill and furniture in December, 1926,- for £320. She wave a. promissorv note for £<o and gave a. bill of sale to Messrs. Walkley and Cameron for £l5O. .The balance was oaid in cash to the vendor. The furniture was insured for £SOO when witness cook the place over. ■ She had since paid off the bill of sale and the promissory note. Her lease exoired in August of this year. Mrs. and Mr. Rea, the daughter and son-in-law of witness, dived with witness in the boardinghouse and managed it to a certain extent. When they came to live at the boa"dinghou.se they brought the furniture of a five-roomed house which they had oc'uoied in Disraeli Street, included in that furniture was a oiano which cost £55, hut she did not know the value of ail that furniture. When Walklev and Cameron took the bill of sale the Reas’ furniture, some of which belonged to the Reas and rame to witness, was included in the inventory. Apart from the furniture the Reas had bo interest in the boardinghouse. The purchase price of £325 was oractically for the furniture alone, the goodwill value being small, as the lease had only a short time to run. A suggestion to increase the amount of insurance by £]Oo had. been made bv Mr. Walkley, but witness conside’ed the policies were too. dear, and would consent to an additional £SO only. Witness was in hospital on the night the fires were discovered in the house. She had given certain articles of furniture to her grandson when he set up house, and had later sent him father effects when he had hoarders. Personal effects of witness were sent to her grandson’s place about a week or ten days before the fire, as it was her intention to reside there. Witness had not told the insurance company that the furniture had been moved as the extra insurance was below the value of the amount allowed and the piano alone was worth the £SO. The piano had since been sold. Witness had received £4O from Mr. Morrissey for the contents of tha house. ATTEMPT MADE MALICIOUSLY.

Inspector Fraser: Why did you sell furniture which was insured for £550 for £4O ?

Witness: Because I did not want to live longer in the place. The attempt to fire the house seemed to have' been made maliciously by some person, and I did not feel safe. ■ The inspector: Don’t you think 3"ou would have gained well if the place had been burnt down and you had obtained £550 insurance. 1 suppose I would, hut I would have much sooner it stood. Asked why she had not tried to sell the furniture by auction, witness said she' was anxious to get out of tlio place, the effect of the fire having

“practically killed” her. Her daughter and son-in-law were now living in Hawke’s Bay, where they had received the’ offer of an hotel. That was a month after the fire. “I would like you to understand that I am an independent person, and was not dependent on the boardinghouse, and I was willing to sacrifice it at any price. I had been in hospital four times in two years, and after the fi e I con-Vd not stay at the boardinghouse any longer,”’ said witness in answer to further questions by the inspector. Replying to Mr. O’Dea, witness said that she had done well out of the hotel. She would 1 partly assist in financing her daughter and son-in-law if they took over the hotel in Hawke’s Bay, though it was not at present her intention to live with them. Referring to the furniture in her grandson’s house and the comment on there being extra mattresses, witness said that, besides the furniture given I by witness, her grandson had also reeived similar gifts from- his wife’s mother. There was also other furniture which her grandson was purchasing from the previous occupier of the house. Witness had sent groceries to her grandson’s house to the value of about £5. These included two hags of sugar, and another had been sent for jam making. Some of the effects sent to her grandson’s place had not been wanted at the boardinghouse, and there had not been room there to store them. 1 SON-IN-LAW MYSTIFIED. !

Albert Rea said in evidence that lie went to the commercial room at about 7.30 n.m. He did not leave the room, no did lie see his wife leave the room before toe alarm was given half an hour later. Inspector Fraser: Have you any idea as to who was likely to set the phre on fire? Witness: No idea whatsoever. It was usual, said witness, for rags to he placed in the space lietween the dresser and the wall in the kitchen. He did not know exactly what waske it in the cupboard under the stairs. The inspector: Would you have gained had the place been burnt down ? Witness: Certainly not.. I would have lost my home and all my clothe* except what T was wearing.

Witness said the reason he ran to the fire station instead of using the j alarm at the corner was because he did not know the alarm was located ' there, despite the .fact that he had ! passed it hundreds of times. The room occupied by witness and his wife was semi-detached, but was in 'the oldest part of the building and 1 would have been swept quickly by the fire had the outbreak not been checked. * Replying to Mr D’Dea, witness said the boardinghouse' was a good paying hnposition. His mother-in-law had done well out of it. hut had been in indifferent health for sarnie time before the fire and after that would! have given J the place away. 1 Inspector Fraser: If it was such a profitable undertaking why didn’t you h ivjt when it was going for £4O? Witness: I would not do that. The •owners of the house isaid they might, acquire the property, and would not renew the lease except from month to month, evrm though they admitted we been good paying tenants. Kathleen Ilea, wife of the previous witness, said that on the night the fires wer© discovered she had gone to the commercial room at about 7.30 or 7.35 o’clock and remained there until the alar.m was given. Witness had not been using kerosene in the kitchen that evening, though a small quantity was kept there. The place behind the dresser was a usuaf recent able for dusters. When they were being removed, witness did not notice evidence of keioconi? particularly, though she had previously told 1 Superintendent Morrison she thought there wars a sowell of kerosene burning, and the latter had suggested the smell might he from varnish. She could not say how the rags which wore found under the stains ;hiad come to bo. there. Mrs Careen’s per son a! effects had been, removed to * Clifford Hen’s place noime. da vs before th e former went to '•he hosnitai. Personal effects of witness' and her daughter had been taken Ibpire. on the Saturday night after the fire. Witness and her daughter had bom at Clifford's place sorting the 1 tilings cut on the Sunday.

Wit new removed her things because she ccnsiiidcied that w-horiver had set the fir* might come hack again, and she d d not wish to lose .everything they b.vd. Inspector Fraser: Did you tell Detective Meik ejohn that certain things had g >no to vour son’s house I Witness: Yes. I told him on the Saturday that mother and I had given Cliff some things to help him set up house. Her statement given to Detective Me klojohn on the Saturday had been made voluntarily and there had been no. attempt by the detective to bully her. Mr O’Dca: When the alarm of fire was given why did you go upstairs, Witness: I rushed upstairs because one or the boarders who was deaf always wont 'to bed early, ond: 1 wanted | to make sure no one ef'se would be caught bv the fire. A stateanent made on October 13 by James Newman, was read by the request of Mr O’Dm. . In the '.statement, Newman, who was >a boarder, said be had been sitting in the commercial room when Mr Ilea came in. That was'about half an hour before the alarm was given. He. thought that Airs .and Miss Rea, had come in before Mr Rea, and

none of them had gone out before the alarm was given. This concluded the evidence, and the coroners’ verdict was given as . indicated. CORRECTION. Owing to a. transposition of . type in the iprociaedingis reported in Saturday’.s “Star,” a portion of the evidence given by Clifford. Rea! appeared to be attributable to William Gaston Walkley. Instead of commencing after Superintendentf Morrison left the box, the evidence given by Clifford Rea should have been | shown ai-;' 'A]r Walkley’s 'evidence, which concluded''with" t'lie Sentence, “The application to increase t'; f insurance by £SO was made either by Mr Rea. or his agent.” Following that th' I'uftioii of evidence cominiieneiiig with the sentence, VI did not know any attempt was' going to lie made to burn the Princes- boardinghouse,” and eon-: turning until the commencement ctf/evidence by Detective Meiklejohn, wais 1 j given bv Clifford Ren.