The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MAY 9, 1870.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 108, 9 May 1870, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MAY 9, 1870.

The frequency with which fires, for the origin of which no one can account, are occurring in Nelson and its neighborhood, is becoming a common theme of conversation, and there is a general impression abroad that they cannot all be the result of accident or carelessness. Within the last three or four weeks we have* been called upon to record no less than five instances in which stacks, barns, or stables situated at some distance from dwelling-houses have been destroyed by fire, and on almost every occasion it has been shown that no person connected with them had been in their immediate vicinity for some hours previous to the breaking out of the flames. In the first place there was the stable at Bishopdaie which had not been entered by the man in charge, nor, so far as he knew, by anyone else since the Tuesday evening, and on the following morning at between six and seven o'clock flames were seen bursting out of the stable loft. The barn and stacks of Mr. Cresswell, at Stoke, were visited by their owner at six o'clock one evening, and left by him apparently perfectly secure, and yet at midnight they were in a blaze. About a week since the straw stacks of Mr. Eawlins, at Eiwaka, were burnt down in an unaccountable manner, and again last week two fires occurred in different parts of the country, the origin of which is still wrapped in mystery. One of these was in Quail Valley, when Mr. Fowler's barn, two miles from any dwelling-house, was left by the proprietor in the afternoon, and on the next morning nothing was to be seen of it but the. smoking ruins. Then the hay shed of Mr. Simpson, near the Waimea Road, was found to be on fire at one o'clock ou Thursday morning after all the family had been in bed some hours, and at the inquest held on Friday, evidence was produced to prove that none of them

had been ia or near tW*;bui*diDg since the morning. Although-nething. was .brought forward at any of the enquiries to show that suspicion could rest upon any particular individual, there- is, nevertheless, an uneasy feeling abroad that these numerous fires are not altogether attributable to mere accident. It is by no means probable that stacks which have been built for four or five months, . and during that time constantly seen by their owners, would ignite spontaneously, and still less is it likely that, hay which had only been stowed in a loft for a few days would take fire from such a cause ; it follows, then, that a light must have been applied, either maliciously or accidentally, and the question to be solved is, by whom was it done? Iu none of the instances alluded to was the property destroyed insured, and therefore, even if. it were not the case, as it most assuredly is, that the owners of the stacks or buildings are above all suspicion, it is not within the bounds of possibility that they should have purposely destroyed their own property, nor is there any reason to believe that they or any of their servants could have accidentally caused the fires, as in all the cases, or at least in four out of the five, it has, as stated above, been shown that several hours had elapsed between the time of their latest visit to the scene of the disaster, and the breakingout of the flames. Accepting it then as a fact, first, that spontaneous combustion was altogether out of the question, and secondly that those interested in the property could not possibly have caused its destruction, we are driven to the conclusion that the fires must have been the result of incendiarism, and it is a matter for great regret that the perpetrators of it are able to escape detection. "The origin of the fire still remains a mystery" is becoming too much of a stock phrase in our newspaper reports, and it by no means denotes a satisfactory state of things when, in a small place- like this, five fires occur within as many weeks, three of them, the scenes of which are within two or three miles of one another, being surrounded by circumstances the most suspicious, and yet not the slightest clue as to their probable cause has hitherto been obtained. In a limited community such as ours, where every man's business is pretty well known to his neighbors, it is not an easy matter for the police to conduct their enquiries with- the desirable amount of secresy, but the events of the last few weeks seem to show that something of the detective element is becoming essential to the security of property in Nelson. x —