SUSPICIOUS BLAZE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19504, 4 February 1926, Page 5

SUSPICIOUS BLAZE

THE RAUMIRU FIRE CORONER’S STRINGENT COMMENTS. EXPLANATIONS NOT SATISFACTORY. TAUAfARUNUI, Feb. 3. An inquiry into the origin of the fire which devastated the major portion of Raurimu at about 3.30 o ’clock on the afternoon of December 14, was held before Air A. S. Laird, J.P., at Raurimu, yesterday. Sergeant O’Brien represented the police and Air E. C. Kincaid represented Jediah Alartin, owner of the Spiral Hotel, where the fire originated. Evidence of a lengthy nature was heard, at the conclusion of which Mr Laird found as follows: The evidence in this case is purely of a circumstantial nature, and the conclusion hinges largely on the question of time. Certain points are not adequately or satisfactorily explained, but it would appear that Air Alartin was singularly unfortunate if the fire was an accidental one. His evidence was corroborated in some respects by other witnesses, but at the time immediately preceding the fire his evidence is in conflict with that of four other witnesses, who agree that the fire in the Spiral Hotel was observed within a few minutes of Air Alartin leaving the building, yet Air Alartin says there was no sign of fire when he left. I can only conclude that the circumstances are suspicious. The evidence, however, in my opinion is not sufficient to warrant a charge being made, and I therefore return an open verdict: That the Spiral Hotel was burned under suspicious circumstances, and that all the other buildings were destroyed as a result of the fire in the Spiral Hotel.