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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 546, 6 February 1868, Page 2

Fiuts in iUiiij.BOKoron.—From the I Marlborough Impress, both January, w>take the !o;lo\viug account <jf two fire? in that I’rovhice On Saturday last Mr Frederick Wiliam# suffered u very heavy ;loss bv iire under tho following circumjTtances. It appears that on the afternoon j lof Saturday lust Mr Williams found it! • necessary to punish a ji.Uiiif lad in his k'Dij' named Ward, lor in emno way i inju-.a ig hi* trap, whereupon tin> young jraM-rd deliberately went into the house anti i having procured a bos cf matches applied 1 tiie l;,;ht to one of Ids stacks of grain, which urn I only that day been thatched, and in a . few minutes the whole ol the year's harvest, | comprising four stacks, was utterly dtfs|troycd, to the value of between £L U and • £SOO. The lad ul.-innod at wiiat he had done, cleared out, but upon being caught afterwards, with much equivocation acknowledged that he was guilty, whereupon • his master to some extent at least, forgave iiiini. On Thursday Mr Bartlett, who | resides on the Fictou Hoad and is the j lad’s guardian, carao over, bringing the lad’s sister to service and to enquire into I the particulars of the rick-burning. While 'he was with Mr Williams, Ward held the j horses outside, and on hia departure was 'locked up in a room opening on a passage (dividing the kitchen from the dining room jto prevent his escape, and the family went |to tea. Before Bartlett had got far from the lliouss lie noticed a quantity of smoke bursting out, and instantly returned. Mr ! vV iliiums was in the drawing room, confined by an ailment, and had just received a cup of tea there, when the fire suddenly buret in upon them from the passage. 1 The little girl before mentioned rushed to the door of the room where the lad was confined and set him at liberty, where-' , upon ho darted off into the manuka and has not since boon seen. With such suddenness did the fire burst out in every direction that no one had time to save a single article, not even of clothing. An attempt was made to enter ope of the rooms from a verandah in order to save a pianoforte, but the falling of the molten lead from the roof prevented anything being got out save a sewing machine. Master Empson and Mr F. Eyes were the first of the neighbors who arrived on the scene, but although every effort wa tmade, end the two young gentleman in question kept at the pump without intermission for about three hours —all was useless The house was erected about ten years ago with very hard dry timber, and a very short time sufficed to reduce the whole to a mass oi emoers. A considerable quantity of valuable property was stored in the house, which, with the contents, was insured the Northern Assurance Company Company for 1,000. Conjecture is rife as to the cause of the mischief, many persons believing the boy to have been guilty of a second act of incendiarism. We believe, however, that the kitchen chimney was on fire about two o’clock the same afternoon and extinguished by water. It is very likely that the fire may have resulted from a spark therefrom having lodged in the shingles. An examination by the police yesterday was so far satisfactory to Mr Litchfield, the agent of the Northern Company. that we learn that no inquiry will be held, but a favorable it port sent to the' Company,” j