STRATFORD NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 297, 25 May 1915, Page 3

STRATFORD NEWS.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) IXQUIEY IXTO BROADWAY FIRE. An inquiry as to the fire in Broadway was held this morning at the Courthouse, before Mr. C. D. .Sole, acting coroner, and a jury consisting of Messrs R. Masters (foreman), J. Frodrie, l\V. ill. Robinson, W. P. Mark, J. H. Hopkins, and G. ~. Hunter. Mr. T. 0. Fookes appeared on behalf of Mr. Mercer, Mr .Spcncc for Mr. Corrigan, and Mr. Rutherford for Mr. Wake, owner of the building. Thomas Mercer, hairdresser, stated that prior to the fire he occupied the premises burnt out in Broadway. The -stock-sheets handed to the insurance office, represented a stock of £I3OO, and there was quite that value of stock and fittings on the night of the fire. The bulk of the stock was totally destroyed. He was lessee of the premises and was paying £2OO per year. A portion was sub-lot for £IOO to Mr. Corrigan as a billiard room. The stock and fittings were insured for fdOO in the Phoenix office. He had no fire in the premises on the evening .previous to the fire. Practically the only inflammable stock Ava s matches. In the back of the premises was a tin and a halt of kerosene. There was no straw or rubbish in the back rooms. A person could get under the premises by lifting up the iron that was loose, 'but would have to get under from tlie side that faced Pivae's restaurant, lie left the premises at (i p.m. and did not return that night. He used a kerosene lamp for heating the water, and had never had any trouble with the lamp. Before leaving he locked and bolted the hack door and left t l ie key in the lock, going out by the. front door, which clo.sed by a patent lock. After tea he returned to town, but did not open the shop. He could give jio information as to how the fire started, but it was probable it started in the Iback room near tlie tin of kerosene. This was the first fire lie had ever had. Ho estimated his loss at £7OO over and above the insurance. He had also suffered considerable loss of business. Bv: the Foreman: When he took stock in .September he estimated it at £llOO, and the stock was the same as at that time.

Bernard Francis Corrigan said he was the proprietor of the billiard room destroyed, and had three billiard tables in the room, of which the values were £W>, £llO and £IOO. (William TL Kelly said he had been in charge of the billiard room for close on five years. No person slept on these premises. On the night of the fire Clark McConnachie gave an exhibition of billiards in the room, and finished just before ten. It was understood with Mr. Merrier that both of them could use the back door of the premises. There was a fire in the room all the evening. .Just prior to locking up the premises at a few minutes to eleven, there was just a few cinders left, and be did .not consider they required extinguishing. He left the premises with Mr. Davis, remarking to him that the fire was quite safe and he agreed. He bud missed the key from the back door about a week before the fire, and had intended to board it up, but be tried tile front door key and found it would lock it, so he had used it up to the time of the fire. He had trouble with a, man named Croon in. the room that evening, and had to eject him because he was a bit abusive, and bad had liquor, lie could not account how the fin'' started.

'Melli Dean, who was employed at Mr. S. Pivae's said be slept at the back of the promises. He saw Croon about six o'clock, when he seemed a bit drunk, lie went to nod on the night of the lire about 11.45, and did not notice anv si"n of (ire next doo''. ITc was awakened by hearing a cracking noise and saw a big

iight, which lie took to-be the station light, lie looked out of the window and immediately dressed and came out of iliu front door, when- he met (ireen, who was taking things out of Stone's window. He did not see anyone else •.resent, and could not say who broke the window in Stone's premises. The iviiidow was broken before lie. o';icncd the Leslie J. Young testified to (Ireen being ejected from the billiard room. He left the room about 10 p.m., and went i'o the Foresters' Hall, where a dance was being held, and left there about one o'clock with Louis Cramer, and

stood talking to him. lie. passed the post office at 10 a.m., but did not nolive any lire in Mr. Mercer's. Tie saw a man standing at the entrance to the railway station about five yards from the. back of Mr. Mercer's premises, but did not then think it was Oreon, though he had since considered the man was flrcen. He saw three or four men having aji argument on the other side of ■'.he street, but he did not know who Miey were. There was a man with a horse and dogs, and, considering the row they were making, thought they were drunk. He then went straight ' home, and was going to bed, when he heard a couple of men singing out fire, and immediately dressed. The time could not have been more than seven minutes after passing Mercer's till lie heard the alarm. When he. arrived at the fire, there were about twenty or thirty people present. He did not see Sergeant j)ale till after the brigade arrived.

Captain Orulib. in charge of the. fire brigade, said the alarm was given at 1.1.'i a.m., and he reached the scene of the fire five minutes later. The whole of the hack .premises, occupied by Mercer and Corrigau, were on fire, ami he was of the opinion, after making examinations of the building, that the fire started in tlie. back 'portion of Mercer's premises, lie did not think the lire started, in the billiard room, and could not express an opinion as to the origin of the lire.

John Crosson, bricklayer, stated that at G p.m. on the night of the fire ho was having tea in Pivae's, when Green appeared, and did not appear sober, lie saw Green put out of the billiard ]*oom by Mr. Kelly. He, left tlrere, at eleven o'clock, and went and had supper. Green joined the party. There was a disturbance in (he restaurant, with the result tha 'there was a fight in the street later on. By this time it would be. about 12.15 a.m. Vandle and Green, besides himself, were sitting in Mr. Anderson's window talking for about twenty minutes. Green, who was drunk, went away for about ten minutes, and then returned. He wejnt around the Stratford Hotel corner, and Green, Yandle, and himself then left for home. When they arrived at Cordelin Street, Green drew his attention to the. glare in the sky, and witness immediately ran to the lire station and rang the 'bell, and assisted the brigade to put out the fire. Green when ho left them at Anderson's did not saywhere he had been, and came back the same away as lie went. William Green, laborer, said that on the night of the fire he had a drink nt the clubhouse at about 5.30 p.m. That was his first drink for the. day. He was asked to leave the billiard room because • lie passed a remark on the game. He I did not have any more liquor, and considered he was not drunk, despite what other witnesses had said. At 11 o'clock when the room closed he, along with a party, went and had supper, and while there an argument ensued, with the result that a fight took place. He only remembered having three drinks for tha night. He left the party fur about ten minutes and returned. He had not the hast idea what time it was. Along with the party he was going home and at the corner of Cordelia Street he turned round and saw a glare in the sky, and he returned to Broadway. He did not know where the lire was till he arrived on the scene. There was no one else there when he -arrived, and he sat down on the footpath and called out "Fire!" Somebody came into the County Hotel and asked him to ring the fire bell, but he replied that he was too knocked up, and the person went himself. Witness positively denied breaking Sone's window, but said lie saw a man do it, but did not know who he was. He swore that from the time he. left Bendall's Rooms to have supper, he never went near Mercier's shop nor near the railway yards. .The jury brought in a verdict that the premises in Broadway were burnt in the morning May 12th, but there was no evidence to show how the fire was caused.

OTHER MATTERS. Miss O'Brien, matron of the Stratford hospital, has offered her services for the hospital ship, and I understand they have been accepted. The Fire Brigade intend staging the pantomime "Cinderella" on June 24th and 25 th, the proceeds to be in aid of a motor fire engine. The borough stall' are at present removing the cwisher to the septic tank site, where 1500 yards of boulders are ready for crushing. There is still another 2000 yards to be got out this winter. About twenty-five men leave for the training camp at Trentham on Friday morning. His Worship the Mayor is arranging a suitable send-off, "inid the band has been asked to assist.