ALL SET FOR A BLAZE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 524, 29 November 1928, Page 16

ALL SET FOR A BLAZE

SENSATIONAL EVIDENCE OF INCENDIARISM ELDERLY WOMAN’S HOUSE Press Association j NEW PLYMOUTH, Wednesday. “I find that the house was set afire j by some person or persons,” was the ' verdict of the coroner, Mr. R. W. Tate, | S.M.. following an inquiry into the cause of a fire ou October 12. Evidence showed that when the fire was extinguished three clumps of inflammable material were found in the cupboards and the sitting-room, each with a piece of candle, which had been lighted, standing in it. The material had been soaked with kerosene. Mrs. Mary Mather, owner of the i house, which was insured for £750 and to which the damage was about £2OO, had been seen to enter the house previously with a bottle of kerosene, but this, she said, was to clean the windows of the house, which had been ! vacated by a tenant two days earlier, j Bags had been tacked over the windows, but Mrs. Mather said that was to keep the neighbours from looking in. Mrs. Mathers, who is 6S years old, and her grandson, aged 18, were closely examined. Sensational allegations were made by witnesses against the methods adopted by Detective Meiklejohn in the course of his inquiries, and regarding these the coroner added to his verdict, “I do not believe the statements in the depositions reflecting on the methods of the detective.”