THE KONINI HOTEL FIRE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5302, 8 February 1879, Page 2

THE KONINI HOTEL FIRE.

An inquest on the late fire at the Konini Hotel was held at the Court-house yesterday afternoon, before J. E. Macdonald, Esq., Coroner, and the following jury :— Messrs F. Tuxford (foreman), Thomas Bowes, S. A. Carnell, A. M. Otton, J. Sims, H. Neal, E. Oonroy, J. Higgins, T. W. Hill, W. L. White, Otto Oarstens, and J. M'Alpine. Inspector Scully conducted the proceedings and examined the witnesses. Mr Sainsbury appeared on behalf of the insurance offices, and Mr Cornford watched the case on behalf of Denis O'Brien. The following evidence was adduced : — John O'Brien deposed : I was late proprietor of the Konini Hotel at Konini, which was burned down last Saturday week, the 25th ult. I left Konini on Friday, the 24th, between 9 and 10 a.m., for the purpose of going to Napier with ' my eon's funeral. I was not at Konini at the lime of the fire. I had a lease of the land on which the hotel was built. Some time back, being in difficulties, my estate was assigned to Robjohns, Irvine and Co., who offered to pay the creditors 10s in the pound. When I had paid Mr Bob Johns what he had advanced, I was to have the property back again. The hotel and stock were insured in the Union Company by me, at the time I owned it, for £1000. I think it was about 14 months, ago that I paid the last insurance. So far as I know, I had no insurance whatever on the place at the time of the fire. I lost everything I had by the fire. I had clothes and other things. I was told that only two boxes were saved. One of them belonged to ray wife. I have received no notice from Mr Robjohns to leave the placed On the contrary, I was going to make some improvements to the place, by Mr Robjohns' order. I did not know how I stood with Mr Robjohns since the time of the meeting. At that time I owed him £700. My account books were burnt at the fire. I did not bring any books into Napier on the day I came in to bury my son. My liability altogether, including Robjohna' debt, is about £1300 or £1400. I was to pay Mr Robjohns' every month for what I had got from him after the assignment. I did bo for two months. The fire took place in the third month. I had reduced the main debt by £50 over and above the monthly bills. By Mr Sainsbury : There was a store and also a stable near the premises. The things in the store, to the value of about £100 to £150, were not insured at the time of the fire. , I had about £200 worth of drapery upstairs in the hotel. There was also some tobacco, soap, and other Btores, to the value of about £30. There was also the furniture and the liquors in the bar. The whole value of everything in the hotel was £500 or £600. The hotel originally cost in building £500 or £600, and was improved afterwards. It was then, perhaps, of the value of about £700 or £800. The labor about £70 on the first building, which was only partly lined. Ido not know anything about the insurances about the time of the fire, except what I saw in the newspapers. At the time Robjohns took the j place over there waß in it about £600 worth of stock. The additional stock ' after the assignment was about £400. Denis O^Brien is my brother. He came down to Napier with us to the funeral. That was on Friday, the 24th. I and my wife remained in town, at least, I went out to Taradale. Mr George Webb and Mr M'Cartney were with me. I for- i get who rode with my brother ; I think it i was O'Dowd. There were two traps. When I got to Taradale I had some tea, and told my brother to get ready and go to Konini to take charge of the hotel. My brother went to Konini on horseback. Webb was with him, on horseback too. I next saw my brother on the following Sunday. I received intelligence of the fire on the Saturday, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Coleman, the stable boy brought me the information. They sent him in to say that the house was burned. On the previous sitting of the Licensing Court there was an objection to the renewal of my license on the ground of my refusing to give accommodation to a person who had asked for it. The objection did not come off, because sufficient notice had not been given by the police. On a previous occasion to that one there had also been objection to my license being renewed, but it did not come off because there had not been sufficient notice given. By the Coroner : Mr Robjohns told me to hurry up and pay the money. He had not said to me that he would take possession. Of course he could do so any day he liked. I was often afraid he would do so. He told me to hurry up the money one day when he and Mr Irvine were there together. It was one day in January. He simply told me to get the money together. I asked my brother hovr the fire had happened, and he said he did not know. I Asked him if they could not save anything, and he said that their time had been taken up : with looking to see a man whom | they missed and who they thought had gone back into one of the bedrooms. There were six bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs. There were twelve rooms altogether including the bar; with the kitchen there were thirteen rooms. By Mr Cornford : I opened the hotel in September and put up the store in January — three months after the opening. The store was not included in the first policy. It is two months since the stable was finished. I had started before calling a meeting of my creditors, and I finished it afterwards. At the time of the fire there were four sets of double harness in> the stable, and other harness, besides some carpenters' tools and some hay. I know of no insurance on those. They were supposed to belong to me, but my brother held them the same as the other property. I looked upon them as mine. My brother came to the hotel about the Tuesday previous to the fire. I had sent word to him that if hie wanted to see the boy he must make haste. He went back to his work at the Incline on the Wednesday night and came back to the Konini Hotel on the Thursday. He had not been employed with me at the time. I asked him to stop at the hotel until the following Monday. The boy died on Wednesday -morning about half-past 1 o'clock. The distance from the hotel to the store across the road was about a chain and a half. William' James Brown deposed : I am a carpenter, residing at Taradale. I built the shell of the Konini Hotel. I produce a drawing of the ground plan of the hotel and of the upper floor. The drawing is pretty nearly correct as to proportion, and sets out the number of rooms. Denis O'Brien deposed : I live at the Incline, where I am wool washing. I v?as in charge of th,e Konini Hotel on tl\o

25th of last month.. It was burned down on that. day. We had our breakfast at about 8 o'clock. There was a fire outside for washing. I served two or three drinks. I cannot say whether there was any fire inside for cooking, Besides myself there was William Gough, Donald M'Donald, Coleman,Mrs Webb and a little girl. Mrs iVVebb was washing clothes, and Coleman^waß washing some things 5 in the kitchen, after breakfast. Webb was away looking for horses. I went with Gough and had a game of cribbage with him in the front room downstairs. After the drinks Gough went upstairs with Donald M'Donald. The latter then came down for his rug, as he was going into Patea.v I gave Mrs Webb the key of the store and she got him the rug. M'Donald wanted six bottles of whiskey. Mrsi Webb and I got, the bottles and went over to the store and filled them. We brought them to the bar and corked them. We rolled them in the rug and Mrs Webb took them upstairs to M'Donald. Afterwards Mrs Webb and I sat down talking a little and Mrs Webb went out to her washing, and I said I would lie down on the sofa in the front room. In about two or three minutes Mrs Webb ran in and cried out, " Oh, Dan, the place is on fire." I asked where and she said upstairs. I went up, and saw Gough and M'Donald' lying on the bed and smoke all round them. I said, " Donald, what's up here?" Mrs Webb asked me to help to get some boxes out. I gave her a hand with a couple out of her bedroom. Donald was pulling down another one. The fire was now getting towards the stairs. I opened the window and threw out two carpet bags. I saw Ooleman go into Mrs O'Brien's room and pull out a box. I helped him. Mrs Webb called to us to make haste as the sparks were flying about the things that we had carried out. We went and shifted them further along. The fire was getting pretty thick and so we ran the waggon out of the way, down towards the edge of the bank. When we went back we Baw;that the store was on fire. .^We I got a box out of that and some whiskey in a barrel, and some rum in another one, and also a small barrel with some beer in : tit. We also saved a few bottles of gin and some English beer. We then had to leave the store. Donald M'Donald first saw the fire in the store. When he cried out about it I saw the roof on nre, I supposed from the sparks. The store was ' about a chain from the main building. We abandoned the store and went to the stable. All the straw at the side of the stable was caught, and also inside, so we could do nothing there. The stable was about a chain and a half from the main building. It was blowing very heavily that day, as nearly as I can tell it was from the East. There was grass growing about the place, but I could not say whether any of it caught fire. There was a big double mattress caught fire. The kitchen was at the back of the hotel ; that was the direction from which the wind 1 was blowing. The room where I saw the fire was facing the stairs. The men went to the door of the room where they were and saw the fire in the other room. The fire was in the farther corner in the roof. The shingles were on fire, and a good deal down the side of the room. The fire was about a couple of feet down the side of the room. We had nothing to put the fire out with. There was no water about the place. I believe the room where I saw the fire was papered up the side. I made nojeffort ,to stop the fire. When we got down stairs we missed Gtough, and we thought he had gone back again. I was calling to him to get out of the window and I would break his fall as well as I could. I kept shouting:to him,. but I got no answer. When the fire was pretty well over he came out of the closet. This was after we moved- the waggon and before we went to the store. We missed him all at once. There were some cases and bags in the store, nothing else. We did nothing after Gough came out. Mrs Webb and all of us sat on the boxes. We sat there until Webb came home. The closet is gone but I dp not know how it went. It was standing there at six o'clock when I went to Pukatapu to get some harness. I went back the next morning. The closet was not there then. I saw a lot of empty bottles round the place where the closet had been. I suppose the closet had been burnt, but I did not see it. Before Gough came out of the closet we had moved the waggon, and the stable was burning. Gough said he had been there all the time. We asked him what he was doing, and he said he was there, that's all. Only one box was got out of Mrs O'Brien's room. I do 'not know about a very valuable watch being about the premises. I only went to the door of Mrs O'Brien's room. 1 could not see inside. The- fire for the washing was on the ground, within two or three bricks put together. The boiler had a handle at the top. We took the boiler away when we took the waggon. The fire was about half a chain from, the building, at the side of the kitchen. It was a pretty good fire. The boiler stood on the bricks. The height of the roof of the hotel might be about 25 feet. I. slept on the front room sofa the night before the fire. I am, always in the habit of sleeping there. The reason I did not sleep in one of the bedrooms was that the bedsteads were, full of bugs. I slept in one of them one night, and that was enough for me. By a juryman : The fire underneath the boiler was exposed. . Donald M'Donald deposed : I . live at the Incline, Mr Kinross's station. lam a shepherd. I was at the Konini Hotel on the 25th of last month, the day of the fire. I had been stopping there some days previous to the fire. On the morning of the fire, after breakfast, i- and Gough were getting ' our things ready to leave, when O'Brien came upstairs with a bottle of gin and two tumblers. We had some of the gin, and O'Brien borrowed some matches from Gough. What he did with them I cannot nay. He left the room, and shortly afterwards there was an alarm of fire raised. I do not know, whether he went downstairs when he left the room where we were. He might have gone into the end room. I did not hear a match strike. O'Brien came back and returned the matches to Gough. The box iof matches was partly burned. O'Brien, then went downstairs, and in about seven or eight minutes I heard the alarm of fire. I went into the room where the fire was. It was a papered room. The side wall was on fire, and had caught the top of the house. The roof was on fire when I went in. I could not see the shingles. I believe the room was all papered. I threw some water on the fire. Denis O'Brien was not present. I slid Mrs Webb's boxes downstairs, and O'Brien took them away. He did not come upstairs ; he came partly up. Previously to putting the boxes down I helped Gough down. He had been drinking for some time in the hotel and was in a weak state. He had had diarrhoea. I stopped upstairs helping with the boxes until it got too hot to stop any longer. I then went down and helped to carry Mrs Webb's boxes away from the fire. Afterwards I went to the store, which was then on fire on the roof. We took away a cask and about a dozen and a half small bottles of beer. The door of the store was wide open. The burning roof of the store was dropping when I went in. The stable was on fire when I came out. I did not say anything to O'Brien. I asked O'Brien if he was going to save anything, and he said it was an impossibility. Ido not remember his words. I think some things could have been saved from the house. It was a very calm day ; there was hardly a breath of wind. I recollect being at the lock-up with you (Inspector Scully) a few days ago. I then related that I had asked O'Brien whether he could not possibly save anything at all, and he replied, " To hell with the lot." This occurred outside the house. We then thought that Gough was in the house, and he was calling to Gough to jump out and he (O'Brien) would catch him. I then said, "Can't you saye anything?" and. he answered.

"To hell with the '&?' Whet^thebqx 1 of matches was returned by Goiigh somew /' of ilia matches had been , on fire. O||j|ienf brought the gin upstairs he:^-- . threepairts filled the tumblers aid said/^m "DritiJ&up, boys,"; I did not orolerthe^ drink.M saw, jDenis. O'Brien at Biowhar^A" and,£j|[en again ai v Taradale , ; ,»|ter;'^l" had^ot theji^immons to ttiC^Ms-itfiis inquest. iiJßlowhard he wantel me to go with hipfcf Poverty Bay. I said I had no money *ahd he answered that he had plenty. He wanted me to clear out down Poverty Bay way. Nothing has taken place since. Iwas talking with John O'Brien to-day. I saw-Dennis O'Brien last Sunday. - I did not hear him say to me or to Gough not to say anything about the fire until he saw Jack. I have fteard Gough talk about P'Brien, > s saying so. >.„•.:--•,. By Mr Oornford : I did mot, see any carpet bags saved, but would not swear there were not any saved. Dennis O'Brien said, "< As long as Gough is.saved to hell - r . with all the things." I have heard Gough f threaten O'Brien. Gough had lost a : saddle and was annoyed at it. 'I do not ■■"' recollect his saying'that if he, got back his ' ; saddle he would say nothing. ,He .was^s , not fit to take care of himself ,on the, 1 morning of the fire. I have left Mr Kin;.' ' } ross's employ. lam not quite : certain i£ < \ I went down to breakfast on the morning] j'. of the fire. ; ..,-.'• ... .]..„' By a juror : There was.np smoke in ithe room where I was when the- fire, broke'' 1 " out. Someone sang out that the place was on fire, but »I , don't know •■jw.hV-^ it was. " "" .'.,... .,."!, ,".. By the Coroner: Dennis 6'Brien did 7 ' j hot come into the room after the alarm- of > fire and ask, " What's up V\ He did not come into the room at all after the alarm that I remember. . f ,The fire; in j;he room, was about two feet, from, the floor. .. Qne, ; '" ' : of the beds was -on fire t00..-', , It '~*ksri!*, ..^ smouldering, there was not much flame on '" 'J'X the bed, but there was on the wali and. on .<■', ',', ',:■/ the ceiling. There was part of the. floor-^-;r wet, before T threw' water on the.ffire.^. There was an appearance of dampness on :>n the floor, f could not tell whether it' was- < kerosene.' It mights have been 1 water' or J anything else,. ... . „., 'w:\-j At this stage the inquest was adjourned fi<l *' to Monday next at 4 p m. . { , . : .' ! J