THE CRITERION HOTEL.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 644, 15 September 1882, Page 2

THE CRITERION HOTEL.

This inquiry was then proceeded with, the jury and tiieir foreman oeing the same as in tha Bruce Ilotei inquest. Tlie following evidence was given : — Tnomas A laui3, sworn, said : I am owner of the Criterion Hotel. Tho hotel is leased to Charlie Albert Rich. It is let for seven years, at a rent of £250 a year. The conditions were to keep the house in thorough repair, and to pay all ratea except property tax. The tenant insures for £GOO iv favor of the mortgage, Air Joseph Bates. I have expressed my disapproval of the way in which the house is conducted, as affecting my tenant's own interest. The £bOO would go to the mortgagee in case of fire, the lessee would have no interest whatever in the insurance money according to the lease. I was at a fire at the hotel on the morning of August 28. When I got there the fire was burning the N.W. corner of tho building. It did not extend beyond the second stud, about 4ft to 6ft. The building was charred half the height of tha studs, Tney are 10ft high. Tbe damage done I estimate at from £25 to £30. The house is built of wood with shingle roof, and the lower part plastered and upper ceilings. The build-'

ing is 72ft on one front and 40ft on the other. A part is roofed with iron. There are 17 or 18 rooms in the house. It would take £1200 to replace the building. About half the building was erected fifteen years ago, but is in good repair. The other part was pt up about five years ago. I saw some gorse sticks ; they were pointed out to me by Sergeant Willis. I did not smell them myself. I have no knowledge of the way the fire occurred, except it did not happen from a tire in (he house, bu. from outside. I believe tho place was deliberately set fire to. I have no suspicion of any one person directly or indirectly. Had it not been for the plaster the hotel would have been burnt down. The mortgagee is perfectly satisfied with ihe security as far as I know. The amount the hotel is insuied for would not cover the mortgage.

By the jury : I know that when the place is insured in tlie mortgagee's name he alone can claim the money. The amount of tlie insurance is £600, and tho mortgage is £1600

By Coroner: It is not usu d, in my opinion, that a mortgagee and lessee should jointly insure. In this case it is provided in the lease that the lessee should insure in the name of the mortgagee for £000. The mortgagee holds other security for the £1600 than the. policy for £000.' It is on other property than the hotel. The security is worth at least two and a half times as much as the cash advanced. I cannot say if the money went to the mortgagee he would re build.

C. A. Rich, sworn, said ; I am licensee of the Criterion Hotel ; I have been in the hotel nine months. On the night of Sunday, the 27th August, myself, my wife, six children, nurse, two servants, Mrs Townsend, Messrs Hombersley, G. Taylor, I', Hait. and Frank O'Neill were in (he house. Tne lodgers slept in the west end, upstairs ; I slept in the east end ; no one sleeps downstairs. I went to bed from eleven o'clock to ten minutes past, and was the last upstairs. I did not go .out of the house tn.it night after dark. Margaret Brown, the nurse, roused me abiut 2 a.m. on the 28th. I heard my wife call to the nurse to call me. She slept over tho billiard-room, where the fire was. I got up at once when called. I heard my wife Biy the house was full of smoke, and could see it. I went downstairs to the billiardroom, where 1 heard the fie burning, got the keys arid unlocked the doors, went through the drawing room to the bottom of the backstairs, and roused all hands. I saw the fire breaking through the west corner of the skirting of the billiard-room when I vvent in there. When I went out I saw tho fire burning on the ground, as well as in the house. Tlie fire burnt part os the floor of the north-west corner of the billiard-room to tho fireplace. The fire burnt from the outside to the inside, and underneath. Tuere is the space of a foot from the iloor of the billiard-room to the ground. The lire ran up between the plaster and the weatherboards. I called assistance and got the fire out without much trouble, as we had water handy and a good axe* 1 estimate ihe damage done at from £10 to £20. Messrs Hombersley and Taylor pulled out Hom>» gorse sticks from under the house, nit they were put under again till pths police came. b\ the morning! I picked up a piece with a strong smell of kerosene. The house is insured by nuir for £000 in iheColoiiid office in the name of C. A. Rich an I Joseph Bites, -armor of Wainui. It is in our j lint names. I inn agent for tbe Compmy in Akaroa. If the place were bur t do vn I could notclai n any of the insurance money myself.- The reason it was insured in my own name as v ell as Mr Bates' name was that I had not received the lease at the time. By the lease it should be insured in Mr Bates' nam ; alone. Knowing this, I should have paid over the whol» of the nioney to Mr Bates. The moii'-y would however have been paid to myself and Mr Bates jointly in the first instance. I did not say immediately after the fire I was entitled to half the insurance. I value my furniture etc., at £400. The house is well furnished. The value of the stock at the time of the lire was about £100. My boarders and myself were ail sooer when we went to bed that night, I noticed no one about when I wi-nt to tne tbe. I looked at my watch when it w.s ali over and it was lhen ten minutes to thiee. I believe the phce was set on fie wilful ! y, but have no idea who did it. I have not the slightest suspicion of any body. I Bhould have lost £500 had the place been burnt. Ido not consider I am insured for a penny though my name is on the policy. The gorse produced, I am sure of to my knowledge, was taken from under the ho as". I did inform the pod c after the lire that bad the hotel been burnt down, I would get the money and open <an ac :ount ot the bank and pay it to mine and Mr Bates' credit. It was bound to'bo used in rebuilding the hotel. The boarders could have left the house that nigiit without my knovvledg . I do not think I could hive left the house without my boarders krnwing, because I was ill and had broken knees.

Mirguet Brown, wworn, said : I am a ladies' nni-e. I remember being at the Criteiion h >tel o i the morning of August 28th. At 2 a.m. Mrs Rich and myself, who were both in the same room and bed, were awake. Mrs Rich asked me if I smelt smoke. I said I thought I did, and lit a candle to see where lbo smoke was coming from. r .t was coming from the billiard room downstairs, from the N. W. corner. I asked Mrs. Rich if I should call her husband ; she said certainly, and I did so. Mr Rich*was party dressed when I saw him. I told him there was s.noke coming from downstairs into tho bedroom. I called the servants and the children and Mrs Rich" mother, and helped Airs Rich downstairs and stopped with her. I did not go near the fire. Mr Rich looked excited when I calb-d him. I hive no suspicions of any per on.

Elward William Ernest Hawkins Ward Hombersley, a laborer, sworn, said : I reside ar Gough's Bay. I was at the Crite - rion on the night of the fire, and had been there some days previously. I was called about 2 a.m. on the Monday the fire occurred. Mr Taylor, who occupied the same room, called me; he just touched me gently aud said, "Get up ; the house is on fire." I got up and went to the fire downstaird. I went through the passage leading from the dining-room into the yard. It was full of flames from the billiardroom, coming between the lining of the billiard-room and passage floor, and Taylor and myself put them out with the water from the bar. When I got outside the fire underneath looked as if it had been put out and re-lit by burning embera falling from above. Mr Rich was there before

me. We put out the lire and found some gorse stumps similar in appearance to those produced, There was every appearance of a big fire having been lit underneath the house. I suspect no one in particular of c-msing the fire. I could not find the man. The fire was no doubt the act of an incendiary. I did not hear any of the boarders move about. I could not hear them, for I am deaf in one ear, and sleep on the other side. It was an idea of Air Rich to cut a hole in flic plaster of an upper room and pour water down. It was that saved the hotel. Wf went to bed about 11.30 p.m. the night before the fire. Frank O'Neill and Hart were the only two strangers to me that were in the hotel that night. We wera all sober when we went to bed, and Air Rich came up with us to ■show us our beds.

Sergeant Wi'lis, of the police, sworn, said. About 2 30 a.m. on the 28th August I was called by Henri Citron and Constable Scott, and told there were three fires in the town, one at the Criterion and one nt each •end. I told the constable to go to the other end, meaning tho south end. On coming out, the Criterion fire was out, but they were still throwing water on it. J went to Waeckerle's Hotel, where there •was a blaze, and returned some time after to the Criterion Hotel. The gorse sticks produced were pointed out to me. They ■were under tho N.W. corner of the building. I took possession of them. They •smelt strongly of kerosene. They have been in my possession ever since.

This concluded the evidence,

After a few minutes retirement the jury returned the following verdict :—" That •the Criterion Hotel was wilfully and maliciously set fire to by some person or persons unknown ou the morning of August 28."

Mr Tosswill asked that the inquest on Bayley's Hotel might be held that even - "ing, as some, of the jurymen were anxious not to come to-morrow.

The coroner said that as it was nearly six o'clock he should not lake tie other ■case till the next day, He world, however, release the present jury au i get a fresh one to sit on the inquest on Bayley's. The jury received this iiituuation with -every expression of satisfaction.