INQUESTS ON FIRES.
VIEWS OF JUSTICES. CONFERENCE REJECTS REMIT. The question of inquests on fires was discussed at the conference of New Zealand Justices of the Peace in Wanganui last week. Mr. A. 11. Hobbs (Canterbury) moved : " That this conference is strongly of the opinion that owing to tho number of suspicious fires in tho Dominion the Minister of Justice should givo every facility for an official inquiry to be held with a view to ascertaining the cause and amount of loss involved, and bringing to justice those wilfully concerned." He said that they had been assured that it was a difficult matter for insurance companies to procure details. Mr. A. Williams (Canterbury) said that he had been chairman of the Christchurch Firo Board, and ho had had a case where companies would not pay for an inquiry and tho board could not. The police were tho proper persons _to conduct an inquiry. Every building burned was a loss to the community.
Mr. E. .J. Hill (Marlborough) said he thought the remit was not necessary. The police had received instructions that in any suspicious cases an inquest should lie heid. Ifn knew it had acted as a deterrent.. The remit asked for what had taken place. The remit was lost by a narrow margin.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21131, 14 March 1932, Page 10
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214INQUESTS ON FIRES. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21131, 14 March 1932, Page 10
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