THE ORIENTAL HOTEL FIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 286, 4 December 1901, Page 2

THE ORIENTAL HOTEL FIRE.

CONCLUSION OF TUB INQUIRY. OVBR-L4PFING AUTHORITY REGARD. ING FIRK BfeCAPB PROVISION. PER PRESS ASSOCIATION, Wellington, December 3

The inquiry into the death of William Crawford, the victim of the Oriental Hotel fire, was concluded tonight. The evidence throughout tbe inquiry had shown that there was an over-lupping of authority in regard to ordering owners of hotels to provide proper fire escapes. The Coroner remarked that there seemed to be two distinct authorities now dealing with this question ; but the Licensing Committee had power to refuse licenses to hotels which were not properly equipped with the means of escape.Tne jury returned a verdict that Craw, ford's death was accidental, and added several riders, in which the opinion was expressed that when licenses are granted licensees should state the limit of boarders the home is to accommodate; that plainly printed notices should be posted in each bedroom of every hotel regarding fire escapes; that complete systems of el?eric alarms should be installed on each floor; that there should be a o&reful quarterly inspection of all lioensed premises. Tbe jury also strongly deprecated the action of the City Council in nos appointing an inspector of hotels and lodging houses sooner, and thought that sufficient information had not been given as to why an Act passed last year was only brought into force in S?ptember. They further thought the City Council was to blame for not having had a house list prepared, under the Municipal Corporations Act, limiting the number of persons allowed to sleep in each hotel. There would then have been less than sixty-two persons sleeping in the Oriental Hotel, which had only thirty-nine bedrooms.