ARSON SUSPECTED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 October 1940, Page 4

ARSON SUSPECTED

FIRES IN NELSON HOTEL DURING VISIT BY LORD & LADY GALWAY. POLICE INVESTIGATIONS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) NELSON, October 22. Outbreaks of fire in three different parts of the building occurred last night in a Nelson hotel at which the Governor-General and Lady Galway were staying. The circumstances suggest that a deliberate attempt was made to set fire to the building, and the police are investigating. One outbreak occurred on the floor on which their Excellencies had a suite, and Lord Galway came out into the passage in his pyjamas to investigate. Serious damage was done on the second floor in the north-western wing of the older part of the building, where one room and the passageway outside were badly damaged. Thirteen bedrooms and two bathrooms had their ceilings damaged by flames running along under the roof a distance of 90 feet. After the first outbreak had been, dealt with by the brigade a lodger who had been transferred to another room in the new wing found the bedding alight in the room to which he had been transferred. A thorough inspection was then made of the whole hotel, but half an hour later another fire was discovered in an unoccupied ’ room on the first floor.