THE LATE FIRE IN THE BOILING DOWN ESTABLISHMENT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1030, 13 March 1869, Page 2

THE LATE FIRE IN THE BOILING DOWN ESTABLISHMENT.

On the afternoon of Thursday last an inquest was held on the premises, before T. Hitchings, Esq., coroner, and a respectable jury (Mr. Cashmore foreman) as to the cause of the late fire. The following evidence was adduced :— Owen Cowen, sworn, deposed : I am a workman in the employ of the manager of the Boiling-down Establishment : my occupation is wool- washing. I left off work on the evening of Thursday the 4th inst. at six o'clock, the usual hour. At that time I neither saw nor smelt anything uncommon about the place. At about 2 or 3 a.m. on Friday I was disturbed by the barking of dogs kept on the premises. The barking of the dogs was peculiar, and gave me the impression that people were about the place. I got out and looked about, but saw no person. On coming into my room I remarked to the cooper that I was sure there was somebody about the place. I then went to bed again. In } about twenty minutes after I was aroused by a man named Barrows, who slept in the same room, calling out fire. I then looked out and saw the flames blazing through the roof of the building on the south side close to the cooper's shop. There was wool stowed immediately under or contiguous. I don't think it could have been burning long. It was a clear, moonlight night. In less than half an hour the whole building had caught. The place where, in my opinion, it originated was some eight or ten yards from the engineroom. It seemed quite unconnected with the engine-room. The fire reached the latter last of all. There had been no strangers about the day before that I know of; and I have never heard anyone in any way make any threats. There were a dozen or more slept in the room with me that night. I believe they were all in bed. I once saw a wool ship on fire in Sydney harbour, and another m Melbourne. The cause of the fire in both cases was attributed to the combustion of wool. I have frequently seen wool become heated both in and out of a bale. I am unable to say if heated wool would ignite shavings or combustible matter. B. E. Friberg, sworn, deposed : lam managerof the Hawke's Bay Boiling-down Establishment. I was sleeping on the premises on! the morning of the sth inst., and was aroused between 2 and 3 a.m. by an alarm of fire. The fire, when I first saw it, was contiguous to the cooper's shop. The flames were bursting through the roof. There were 133 bales of wool in the biiilding, mostly in grease. I was in the building and left it for the night at 9 p.m. The evening before I locked the doors, and no one could have gained access within the building except by getting in through windows. There had been a fire in the engine-room all day on Thursday. The lire embers in the furnace were raked as usual to the back of the furnace, and I left everything secure, so far as the usual precautions went. I have examined the furnace, and have no reason to believe it faulty in its construction. lam unable to give any opinion as to the origin of the fire. When wool is heating it emits so strong a smell that your attention is drawn to it. There were six tons of tallow in the building. We use tallow candles in lanterns in general. There was one man (the engine-driver)at work up to nine o'clock with me. We neither of us went to the cooper's shop that night. It is my impression that the fire was the work of an incendiary ; but lam unable to fix suspicion upon anyone : my reason for so thinking being that the building could scarcely have caught fire of its own accord after having been left so many hours in apparent safety. Ido not think that any of the contents of the building took fire spontaneously. Ido not keep a watchman . Bichard Barrows, sworn, deposed : lam a workman in the employ of tbe manager of the Boiling-down Establishment. On the morning of Friday, the' sth inst., I was sleeping in the barracks. Between two and three o'clock I awoke and saw a glare of light. I rushed to the door and gave the alarm of fire to tho other workmen. The fire commenced at the south-east side of the building, near to the cooper's shop. There were over a hundred bales of wool in the building. They were stowed three tier high, On. Thursday evening, to close the windows, I stood upon the wool, and if any of them had been smouldering, I should have detected it. lam unable to assign any cause of the fire. I saw the cooper "at work that day. I never saw him smoke in the building when at work. There is a chimney in the cooper's shop, used in his trade. There was no fire lighted on the Thursday. Tbe jury returned as their verdict that there was no evidence as to the cause of the fire.