THE WANGANUI FIRE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9718, 14 February 1910, Page 5

THE WANGANUI FIRE.

TWO MEN ARRESTED. A PLUMBER'S FIND. A "SWAG" OF JEWELLERY. By Telegraph —Press Association. WANGANUI, February 13. A sensational sequel to the Rutland Hotel fire, which occurred on the night of January 22nd, occurred on Saturday evening last, when Joseph Davis and Martin Haynes, proprietor ajid manager of a jewellery and fancy goods shop, in which the outbreak occurred, were arrested. At the inquiry held on Wednesday last, the evidence was such as to lead the jury and coroner to arrive at the conclusion that the fire was the result of an accidental explosion of gas, and a verdict was returned accordingly. Since the fire Davis and Haynes i have been staying at the Arcadia Boardinghouse, and by a strange coI incidence Miss Bellaney, the proprietress, required the services of a gasman, to remedy a leak. A man was sent to do the work on day, and found it necessary to examine the pipes above the ceiling of the upstairs rooms. He went through the trap door at the e.id of the passage, and near the rooms occupied by Davis and Haynes, when to his surprise, he discovered a "swag," comprising one large portmanteau, four paper packages and two brief bags, which on examination bv the police, to whom the matter was reported, were found to contain a miscellaneous assortment of jewellery, fancy goods, and some of the books which were said to have been burned in the fire, including the day book, containing an entry made on the day the fire occurred, and also records of sales for the week past. The value of the goods found, were roughly estimated at from £IOO ro £2OO, but have not yet been valued by an expert. The stock in the shop at the time of the fire was valued by Davis at £2,600, and was insured for £I,OOO. The insurance money has not yet been paiu over.