A SUSPICIOUPS FIRE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 87, 19 April 1913, Page 6

A SUSPICIOUPS FIRE.

■ open bse^ened.l ■ o » f »'■ v Invercargill, April 18. Magistrate Cruichshank held an enquiry to-day %£#*’ ofe ’ destroyed' the Thornbury Hotel on the early morning of February 4. ■ proprietor,, gave evidence bhenf no- fire in-,the hotel on the day preceding its destruction.’ J - Whefi he locked up £7 in silver on a .shelf in thenar, ~and .£6 in notes and silver in another room. A search mado after the fire resulted in only a few silver cftm'S being discovered. .’EvMitoc'e was bailed t 6 show that oh,the riightof the fire a motor ear, with, registered number 408, was seen in..the vicinity of Thornbury, and that it belonged to Colin Gerrard, a farmer. Gerrard was called as a witness, and his solicitor (Mr H. S. Macdonald) intimated that lie had instructed him Hot to answer questions which might ipbriminate him. Gerrard detailed his movements on the day and night of the /fire, and dpfiied taking his car tp’ 'f Aofrii&hfjK, riis car was on the morning of February 4 in .the same plabe wlibfe he left it on the previous night, and he did not notice whether If -had been shifted on the night of the dre.. He stayed at the house of William Hazlett, since deceased. HetCctive-Sorgeant Cameron gave evidence that ho saw Gerrard, who made a statement about the fire, but refused to sign it. On searching Getrard’s house lie found £9 in gold, silver and copper, contained in three money boxes, and Gerrard’s clothes and sovereign case. Bogue, of Wyndham, gai/p; evfdence that on the body of William Hazlett, recently found near the Mataura river, he found two flasks qf whisky of the same brand as that sold at the Thornbury Hotel. The Magistrate returned an open verdict, saying that there was no evidence to show how the fire originated.