Dear Deb, If the hotel was badly damaged, it is highly probable that there was an Inquest into the cause of the fire. Inquests for that period I think are microfilmed, and possibly part of the Archives Resources Kit at many libraries or family histories society. I wonder if it is mentioned in the index of Rod and Wendy GOW. Regards, Bill > Sent this yesterday but a mail server rejected it, so fingers crossed this > time. > > Thankyou to everyone who contacted me on & off list. > > For those interested, I've heard back from the hotel already. Apparently > they've heard that it was badly damaged by fire in the late 1930's but > have > not been able to find anything about it. They'll ask some locals & see if > they can confirm this. > > There are numerous references to fires in the Newcastle Herald index.