INQUIRY INTO A FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19298, 10 April 1926, Page 11

INQUIRY INTO A FIRE.

A COTTAGE AT ORMOND. CORONER WITHHOLDS VERDICT. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] GISBORNE. Friday. The circumstances connected with the destruction by fire of a four-roomed cottage, at Ormond, on. March 16, owned and occupied by Mr. Frank Harry Doreen, labourer, formed the subject of an inquiry before Mr. E. C. Lewy,, S.M., to-day. The house, which was insured for £275, was buriied to the ground, but the majority of the furniture and chattels, which were uninsured, were removed by the owner during the fire. Frank Henry Doreen, in evidence, said be owned the cottage and section concerned in the fire. There was a mortgage of £2OO on the cottage, which was insured for £275 in the Mutual Insurance Company. He was homo by himself on March 16. He had a fire burning in the kitchen range. He retired at ten o'clock, and was awakened at one a.m. by a crackling noise. He found the kitchen full of smoke. He shut the door, hurriedly dressed, and set about removing the furniture. Witness said he took all tho furniture out of the two front rooms with the exception of a washstand and dressing table. At the back of the house was a lean-to or shed, and he went there and removed the gig harness, saddle and bridle and a bicycle. The smoke was too dense'in tho kitchen for him to discover where the fire was. He did not call the neighbours, as he thought he would lose tune. It so happened that by the fire he released himself of a mortgage of £2OO and saved the most valuable of his goods, but he estimated his loss at about £6O to £7 °" William Gomm, bus proprietor, said he reached the scene of the fire at 2.50 a.m., and on going to the rear of the house saw Doreen watching the fire. Witness asked how long tho place had been burning, and he said two hours. The building was then all down except a little portion at the back. Doreen was quite cool, and in no way upset. A lot of the articles saved were twenty yards back from the burning house. The nearest neighbours would not be more than fifty or one hundred yards away. After hearing the police evidence regarding the goods saved, etc., the coroner said the evidence was so peculiar that he would have to consider it before delivering his finding.