THE LATE FIRE AT THE TOWN BOUNDARY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 378, 10 July 1877, Page 2

THE LATE FIRE AT THE TOWN BOUNDARY.

After we went to press yesterday, Mr Hislop was further [examined by Messrs. Balmer, Oreagli, and O'Meagher, but nothing of any importance was elicited from him beyond what was obtained in his examination in chief. William Collins was then called by SubInspector Smith, and sworn. The Coroner told him that he need not answer any questions which might tend to criminate himself. Mr. O'Meagher suggested that, after the turn affairs had taken, it would be better if witness did not answer any questions. Witness : I am not afraid to answer any questions. The examination of witness was then proceeded with. He said : I am a laborer, and the owner of the" house recently burned down. It was six or seven chains from my own residence, and in a northerly direction. The house was built of wood, roofed with iron, and contained four rooms. The ceiling of the two front rooms was tongued and grooved timber, and the walls were rough lined, scrimmed and papered. The kitchen was lined with tongued and grooved boards. The other room was not lined. I could not | see the house from where I reside, as there I was a cottage and some gum trees beI tween. The nearest house to the one

_ _ . —^u— .jl\3L burned down is occupied by a man named* |\ Powell. The house which was burned down has not been occupied for over two months. Mr. Powell was the last occupant. I insured it for L2OO in the TransAtlantic twelve months last May. 1 renewed it a little after the twelve months ' expired. I had no other insurance on it. There was a mortgage of LIOO on tuu , property, which could not be paid fur about two years. The property coiiHißt.nl -j of somothing more than three acres of : land and the house which was burned ;, down. I do not know when the mortgage » falls due. T have had the land nearly \ two years. I bought it from Mr. Sum].- .; ter, and pay him the interest on the- ~ mortgage. J remember him telling mo A 'that the mortgage was due on the loth \ of this month. I told Sumpter .1 wan J o-oin" to let it run. He said he knew a | maiAvho would lend LIOO on the pro. 1 pert v. I did not tell Sumpter that 1 j would pay Miss Traill's mortgage. Mr. § Sumpter'once told me that the mortgage, ■] was aue on the Ist July, and about three J weeks ago lie told me it was due on tlio | 15th July. I remember being aroused J by Mr. Hislop about one o'clock on Fii | day morning. I heard a noise outside ,| the front of'the house, as if some one was j talking. I slo]>t in the back room, and | my wife in the front. After 1. heard (lit | noise a minute or two, T got up and pullml | on my trousers and stockings. 1 went tt | the door, touched it, and asked " Hlioi | there," two or three times. 1 do not re | member getting any reply. I opened Ik; | door and went out. Mr. Hislop was ;u ; | the north-east corner of the house, lit | talking about the house being oi| ! | fire. I saw the blaze as soon as I wen:; § outside. I asked ]>im what he was doin;' j knocking about at that hour of the night -I He told me that I must have burned ill; | house down mvself. I asked him, " Uw J do you know," or something to that oil eel | He said, " We'll go over and see the tire.' | We went over and stopped there. It \va J •ill in a red blaze—front and back- win: J we went ovr. Hislop re]iealed that 1 inns., j have done it. I checked him, and tel f him I thought he was talking too fas: ;| He said, "MvNab saw you set lire to; M once before." .! (old him something hi the effect that it was a, Ho for him an 1 M'Nab together. We then went oven I my dwelling-house, and were accompanied by the constable. As we got to the doeHj Hislop said, "You had better put ym;|j coat on ; you will have to go down police caiii]), or down to the town." M told him if he was in earnest, he h\M better not speak like thai, for I woiiM have no move of it. 1 cannot tell you a , Hislop said, lie was in a great slat running about and ransacking cvcrytliii in the house. 1 went to bed between and 1) o'clock the previona night, 'j last time 1 saw the house was about? o'clock. The house was 18ft. by 20( At, the time it was insured I valued it ; L'2oo. I have sent in my application I Mr. Aitken for the insurance money, saw two-roomed cottages insured for UO so 1 thought that, as my house liad fa rooms, 1 would insure it for L'JOO. Win I first went up to Hislop, he began to fc my clothes, to sec if they were wet, J should have shouted out " Fire," nistw of sneaking about the house. 1 shotiti " Fire " as soon as 1 saw it. 1 was in hi when Hislop knocked. I am not awa that one of the covenants of (he mortal is that 1 should keep the house itisur. for LIOO. I'll swear thai, 1 know notlii: about the LIOO insurance, or having pa Mr. Sumpter the premium on this LlO To Mr. iialmer : I did not give Pom. notice to leave the house. When I go bed at night 1 generally have on a, «ln and under-flannel. 1 had these on i the night of the lire, as also a small seal 1 take oil' my trousers and drawers t gether, and also.put them on togethi When 1. went outside that night I. put > my trousers, drawers, and socks. _ J. ill; had a paper collar on. 1 slept m it. Ji top button of my trousers was the on one buttoned. This house caught li about, three weeks ago. It was then ii occupied. I have no idea how the li originated by which the house was burn; down. I did not report the matter to t! police when the house first caught lire. ( told my neighbours about it. I was tai in" to Mrs.'M'Nab about it. Tlio fr« d.uu- was locked, with the key on tliei side. 1 entered the house by pushingt! back door. To Mr, Creagh : I remember your boil at my house with tlio mortgage deed, shnied it without your reading it. Mr. O'iMeagher : Air. Hislop felU all over. He appeared to be in a gtt flurry. I was not warm when he felti under the arms. I did not say to Hisl " If you say nothing about the lire !. v engage you to look after the thing." 1 said,°" You will have to stand your In for this." 1 said to him in a chailii manner, " You have a clever head on J'< for a lawyer, and you might get a felli/ out of difficulties if he got into them 1 think I said to Hislop, " Which do y< think is the best-yon or O'Menghci' He did not appear to like anything J afti I could not make him out. He seeim like a man licensed to tell me that burned my house. Jf his house wasi; fire and 1 went up to him and told hi lie set lire to it, lie would not like it. had some stacks burned about 18 mow ago. Thoy were insured for L7o. 1 the insurance money. I never heard tl a man was seen setting lire to them, a was chased. I never informed the poll The inquiry was then adjourned I a short time. On resuming at seven o'clockGeorge Sumptner was called, and gn evidence as to the insurance on t house, and its value. h\ the course his evidence he stated that the house v worth a little under LIOO. The liui was insured in the New Zealand 0 office for LIOO, and had lie known t there was another insurance of L2OO

the property he would have thought there ■was something wrong. William Aitken said that on the forenoon of Friday—between nine and ten o'clock—Collins came to bis ofiice and said his house h:id been bumr-l i-own. and be wan ted tin; insurance money, Witness was busy af the tim-. He wniied about, and thou witness usk.-d ! : :u how it occurred. He said it occurred one o'clock that morning. He s;iid that he did not know how the lire originated : in fact, that he knew nothing about it until Mr. Hislop came to the door. He (witness) thought it was the house Collins was living in. After further questioning him, witness told him that he would go up and have a look at the place. When they got m ar to Collins' residence, witness said, "It wasn't this house, it was tiie one further round/' Witness alluded to the house which Donald Douglas used to live in, and in which Collins was living, and I said, '• This is the house I insured ; I never knew you had another. I never insured any house but this, and I will not recognise any other house but this." They then went round to where the tire had been. Witness saw there a few sheets of iron, ami some piles. There were thirty sheets of iron ami some small pieces. He afterwards measured the plao, and found that the house had been 18ft. by 20ft. Collins was present. There were twenty sheets of 7-ft. iron, .-,ud ten sheets of 0-ft. iron. Collins said the walls -were about •Jit. high. Thomas Powell stated during his evidence that, about a fortnight or three weeks ago, Mr. M'Xab roused him about 1 o'clock in the morning', when the gorse hedge and the shed at the back of the house destroyed was on lire. James M'Xab also'stated that, about 1 o'clock on the morning of the 22nd June, as lie was going home, he discovered a small shed, about Oft. from the house, on iire. With the aid of Mr. Powell, he then managed to extinguish the lire. He also said that, in company with Powell, he went to Collins' house. There was no light in the house. Powell opened the back door and went in, witness being just at his back. When they opened the door, Mr. Collins was there- very quick, almost confronting them, without any calling. He hail his trousers on. lie was standing. They did not make any noise. They knew Collins' wife was not well, and went to the house as quietly as possibly. As soon as they told Collins his house was on tire, he ran out in the direction of the lire without putting his boots on. Witness went back to the tire, ami after remarking to Collins that it was all right, proceeded to his own house. Witness could see that the tire was the work of an ineen---'iiarv. lie called on Mr. Humnter. and -ae told witness the house was insured in his otliee.

The Coroner having brieily comment ."d on the evidence, the Jury retired to cimsider their verdict ;it 10..'y), and .agreed to the following at i L «> T ol- i«jk :—" The jury are of opinion that the tiro was the act <>t an incendiary, hut there is nut suiiicietit evidence to prove v.'ho ic was. Tiio jury .add lid 11 rider thai the insurance a:;eiKs hold "ut strong inducements f"r sinister occurrences, by insuring property mueh above its value."'