THE LATE FIRE NEAR. CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1545, 30 May 1882, Page 2

THE LATE FIRE NEAR. CAMBRIDGE.

It has now been proved beyond doubt that the burning of the stacks of Mi- T. liyau near Cambridge was the premeditated woi k of an incencliaiy, but beyond this nothing whatever has transpired to prov e the identity of the raisoeant. The fire was first noticed by Mr Hanlan, a neighbor, at 4 o'clock on. Wednesday morning, but he, thinking that it wab uieiely a fiie of rubbish on Mr Ryans faun, gave no further heed to the matter, Mr Ryan says he discovered that his stacks were burning about six o'clock, when he immediately went into town and communicated the matter to the police authorities. Constable Brennan proceeded to the scene of the fire, and asceL tamed that the four stacks, two of which are about a thousand yards from the other two, and located in different paddocks, were all burning at the same time, and that it was impossible for the fire to have communicated itself from one to the other without assistance. As the man O'Biien, who was said to have set iire to the stacks at Fen Court, some time ago, is at present in the district, he was at first suspected of beiug the incendiary, but m all fairness to the unfoi tunate man it may be said that, as he slept at Piako the morning oi the fire, suspicion can no longer be attached to him. Pei haps if an euquiiy weie held into the matter something satisfactory might be adduced, and the guilty party made to suffer the consequences ot his misdeed. Mr Ryan estimates his loss at about £500 which is covered by insurance in the National to the extent of C 337.