A RECENT FIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 136, 26 October 1912, Page 6

A RECENT FIRE.

■COROXJAL ENQUIRY. PURELY ACCIDENTAL.

A coroniul enquiry was held in the Magistrate's Court yesterday into the circumstances of the fire which partially destroyed a six-roomed house in Gilbert street on October 14. The district coroner (Mr. A. Crooke, S.M.) presided, and the following jury was empanelled:— Messrs W. H. Wood, M. Jones, G. Hopkins, G. M. Arrowsmith, J. Waddell and F. S. Cory (foreman). Mr. R. C. Hughes appeared for the owner of the house (Mrs. liramley) and the Superintendent (Mr. F. C. J. Rellringer) on behalf of the Fire Board.

S. d'A. Grut, who is a clerk in .the Public Works Department, said he was a married man with a family, and had been living in a house in Gilbert street owned by .Mrs. liramley. The. gas was laid on in four rooms and the scullery. I He had been occupying the house for about four and a-half months. The building might be worth £550. On October 14 a lire took place in the house. His wife and himself had left the house, together with two of the children, about j'. 8.15 p.m. There were five children and a schoolboy named Watson living with j him. Before he and his wife left the house, three of the children had gone to the pictures with Watson. • His wife and <himself were going for a walk. He did not go through the house before he J left. Later on he heard the fire-bell, when he was opposite the Bank of New ! Zealand. It might have been half-an-' hour after he left the He, did' not learn that it was his house until a quarter to ten. The fire was confined mostly to the wall, between the two bedrooms and the passage. Candles were used in the bedrooms.' In the room occupied by the boy Watson there was a draped box against the wall. The only suggestion that lie could make about the origin of the fire was that a lighted candle may have teen left in either of the two bedroom. There was a draped wardrobe near the door in the children's bedroom, and there was a possibility that in passing this wardrobe with a lighted candle it maght have caught fire oy the drapings. Four months ago he insured his furniture for £125 and his piano for £SO. He reck-

oned the furniture was worth £350 before the Are. He left the-insurance to Mr.- Bain, of the State- Fire, Insurance, -to fix the insurance risk. The'policy' a very heavy loser by the fire; Mr. Hayden, after inspecting the furniture,after the fire, placed the Value of.the: furniture over the insurance at £IOO. Witness recalled that about : three. months ago his wife was drying sbnie'clothes at the fire in the dining-room, when they accidentally took lire, hut the was extinguished before' miichi.danulge "was dome.

Amelia M. I. d'Grut, wife 'of."the first' witness, gave corroborative "evidence. She also stated that shortly before the boy Watson set out for the theatre he went into the bedroom to change his coat. Sho did not know! whether, he took a lighted candle with, ,hinj., : WJien. they left the house the gas was not, turned off'at the meter, as it' was' not their practice to do so. ! ;: i Evidence was also given Iby:'Sherwood Watson, si schoolboy of 15 years, who was leaving with the Gruts. ~Just before he left for the pictures with'three of the Gnit children he took a lighted candle'into one of the bedrooms !'for; the purpose of changing his coat. He did not.leave the candle in.the.ropm, Win 1 . H. Butler, .coach'-builfler,' living in Gilbert street, said that''his house was tlnee doors away from the;Grut's. .While reading inside the,; house;. ; ,h,e became aware that Grut's house wit?, on fira. Thinking that the Grut children'might be .alone in the house, he-rushed' bve'r and burst the back door in. ; ! sOn ientering the house he could see that the middle bedroom was a mass, of fjarnes.;; Herbert Wm. Lightbaiul,', representa-' ■tive of the United Fire Insurance Company, estimated the : da'nta;ge to -thtHicnrs-e at £-275. The building' was' :va.lfuedrat. about' £540. The..,damage :j dQne;-did not, come quite up to the. insurance.',' .■ :'. Kenneth Bain, manager' of'the 'State . Fire r Insurance branch office''at "New Pl'y.month, said that Ife. had inspected'ithe furniture prior to the policy being ta.ken out. Together with the. ; piai)o ; was worth; at the lowest estimate,' £225. Grut did not ask for any special amount on the furniture, leaving film (witness)' to fix' the insurance risk. The policy , -was for £1.25 on tluvf«rnit»re;.and ,£-50 on the piano. The furniture w'as'almost a ; total losS, and an expert considered, ( as the;Tosult of an inspection,"that before the fire it was worth••.£293.! -, •; ■ !;■[,■ .■! |

~ ;This closed the evidenee.. ■;...,., :.- , Traversing the case, his Worship said, that there was no direct evidence as to the cause of the fire. It'seemed'to Mm that it had originated in-one', of thechildren's bedrooms. ■ Just,,before.= set-, ting 6ut for the pictures, one of., the little children must have gone'into the room with a candle, and accidentally allowed the flames to comb frit'o Contact with something. Mr. Grut was a heavy loser by the fire, and there .HOisugr. rgestion of malpractice on his part.' '" " ■ After a brief retirement the jury announced that they were unanimously' ofopinion that it was an accidental occurrence, there being no: suspicion.that the hcjuse had been wilfully set on lire.