THE FIRE IN TAY STREET.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 39, 1 September 1864, Page 3

THE FIRE IN TAY STREET.

An -invest^ation-^into-^he-origin-of- the- fire •which, took place onthe;eveninE[-of- Monday last,' in the store afthe rear of the, shop" of UK G. M.' K Clarke, chemist, Tay-BtreeV, 'waa^made yester- ' day, before Dr. Deck, coroner _ ' Stephen Coxqn being mterro^ated, deposea as follows :— T f "ain'^Ta b,ntcher living 1 in- Tay»treet,* "Invercargill. I* was" ''"co'mirig" ""down? Tay-st., on Monday Evening about 8 o'clock, and ■when opposite Wo/thjngton',3 shop, c riaw, flames pTocee^ing'fTOm r tfie';store of Mr. Clarke,' from the ridge of the* rptif. „ jlHfreriii. into Mr; Olarke's. shop and told : Mr;.' 1 -wfio ; was jthe=. only; person I sawiri'lhe pTace^that the'stpre .Vas on fire. .Mr< . Atkinson Bald it c'buld not be his place as he had not been in : the J store ! 'since Friday last: ; T went through {he house, tp-the storey the; doors were shut, and;l didnpt attempt ,toL open , thenv and I prdledVdown ; sonic palings; belpnging: to a fence that "wasjciose >to the store.' : Mr. , Atkinson came soon after, and (then Mr. Harrison. Harrison apenecL the door, and . shut them again directly • \ many more people came.. then^, and' helped with water.'and buckets -to; put put ; the fire. Mr. Harrison;, .did,, , : npt, t ;.ÜBe .any. key ; in opening the. door, he- opened them, quite easily! . \ I looked H in. when • Mr. Harrison opened the doors, the fire 6eemed all above,, and small portions of burning paper bass were, dropping down. The fire appeared to .be chiefly about the centre of the loft .abo^e. Mr. Atkinson seemed very confused when he first saw. the fire on leaving, the house. '".' I asked him whether there was anything of a dangerous character in the atore. At first he said there was kerosene, and oil of vitrol, but we then saw the kerosene and vitrol in the yard. No one produced any keys to open doors. Mr. Harrison was the first that opened the door. Mr. Atkinson seemed afraid to to do so Mr. Harrison did not know the contents of the store when he opened the door 3. Joseph Harrison, also a butcher, corroborated Colon's evidence. r. Michael D'Arcy, constable, deposed to examining, the' burning articles in the loft. The principle things on fire were some paper, a box of twine, and some cases- containing medicines. The fire extended 'through 'the greater .part of the loft. -Did not 'see any matches on fire. John W. Chapman, serjeant-major of police, gave evidence to the effect that the fire wrs burning on the upper floor, and principally near the door, where he thought it had originated. There were no matches on fire. The fire seemed to be simply from paper and cases that were burning The fire on" the ground floor seemed to have fallen from the top. , There were no marks of violence in the door. Serjeant Foster gave corroborative evidence. "William ' George Atkinson gave evidence as follows : — I am TJ chemist and druggist, residing in Invercargill. About eight or ten days ago, Mr, Clarke left Invereargill, and left me in sole charge of his place On Monday night about ten minutes past eight, Mr. Coxon and another person came into the shop, and told me that the back premises were on fire. I immediately went out through the kitchen into the yard, and saw that the store wss on fire, I could see the flames coming through the eaves of the building in front/ Mr. Weldon, and a body of the police force were on the promises a minute or two after we discovered the fire. I imagined at the time that the fire had originated among some matches that were stowed among reams of paper and paper bags, thinking that rats might have caused them to take fire. The nextmoming on looking over the stock book, T found that the matches were placed on the ground floor, at the end of the store, where there was no fire at all. Nobody had been into the store since Friday forenoon, when I was in it with a boy. who went up into the loft to get down a paper of chip boxes. I had the key in my pocket from that ime until the store was broken into when the fire was discovered. I am sure that one of the doors was bolted, and the other was looked. The key was never out of my pocket until I gave it to' Mr. Clarke, yesterday morning. I was in the habit of only opening one door, opening up the store, the other always remained looked. There was nothing at all combustible in the loft. The only way in which I can account for the fire is that the roof leaks a good deal, and the paper bags may have taken fire after getting damp. There was a large quantity of combiistible material below, but not above. The only other person on the premises at the time of the flre was Mips Mitchell. Mr. Cousins who has been living with Mr. Clarke was out shooting throughout the day. Mr. Clarke was at his place for the last time on "Wednesday last in the evening. I only saw him for half an'hour. After the occurrence of the fire I sent for him directly, and he came back yesterday morning. I believe he was staying about two miles from the end of the jetty across the river at a Mr. Maclean's. I was out about two minutes about half an hour before the occurrenoe at the fire, and there was no si^ns of fire at that, time. The back gate leading into the yard was bolted at that time. 1 always bolted it every evening. There is no stove in the store. Mr George M. K. ClaTke was then sworn, and deposed — I am a chemist residing in Tay-street, Invercargill. I can assign no cause at all to the fire that has occurred in my store. Mr Atkinson stored all the things there. There was nothing in the 16ft as far as T am aware that would oause spontaneous combustion.' I had not been into the store for ten days. The store is not injured to a farthing. Mr .Atkinson was in charpe of my place during my absence. I first heard of the fire yestarday morning. There is no stove in the store, and no'"l&rnp .has been used in the place lately. I do not think the tidoor. could be easily opened -if it-were-lockedv— -I- think that the roof is quite watertight, and have not noticed that any of the goods that have been taken clown from from .the loft ,above were damp. Ido not think that anything*™ the loft would take fire unless it were damp for some! weeks.- The key of the store is generallyhung up in the kitchen. There wrre some ventilating holes in the gable end of the loft, above the hags that were on fire, through which a spark might reach them. The matches were in tin ib'oxes. -We ; are not in the habit of using matches in the plact. Joseph Heaphy gave evidence as to being in the store on the Friday previous, and that no one, to the best jofthis: belief,' went there since that date till the fire was reported. Detective Thompson deposed to having examinedthelock, &c, of the door to the store, and having found them perfect. He thought the door, if not bolted, but merely locked, might have been opened without breaking the box. This was all -the evidence adduoed. The jury returned a verdict as follows : — " That a fire commenced in the loft of premises occupied by Mr. .G.. M. K. Clarke as a store, but that there ia no evidence" to shew how the fire originated."