ANALYST'S TESTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 138, 13 June 1934, Page 8

ANALYST'S TESTS.

MINUTE EXAMINATION METAL ON TIN SNIPS. BODY DIVINER'S EFFORTS. Three types of burnt materia] were found in another exhibit, said Mr. i Griffin, resuming his evidence yesterday , afternoon. These included a piece of cotton knitted underwear, a piece of cot- j ton wear burnt at the edges, and pieces of burnt cloth. Studs from denim trousers, a metal rivet used for fastening pockets, two brace fasteners, and ' several other articles which had been through lire and later examined by witness, were described in detail. Further exhibits from Bayly's sheep dip contained a piece of black rubber with i canvas insertion and a "piece of burnt I leather with a nail showing in it. Parts ! of a watch were also handed to witness, and later he was given two sheets of galvanised iron. The sheets had been heated on the top by having a smoky j flame played on them. On one side was soot and on the other the gal van- | ising had been oxidised by heat. It did I not show as cleariy as' it did last: December. Quite strong beat would be necessary to give the oxidising effect, continued witness. As bottle after bottle was handed to witness, he gave the results of his analysis and chemical tests; identifying some exhibits as burnt bone fragments. Burnt leather and burnt white rubber were also examined, tlie exhibits having j come from various parts of Bayly's property. Witness observed in one exhibitj a piece of fat, but he was not able to j determine whether it was animal or | vegetable. The fat was in a piece of i charred cotton cloth. These exhibits, were labelled as having come from the sheep dip. Metal on Tin Snips. A pair of tin snips 'described as coming from Bayly's ear and woolsbed was examined by the analyst, and on them he discovered traces of two kinds of metal, white and yellow. The white was on the edge of the blade and the yellow rubbed into the sides. There were not enough traces for analysis. However, the metals of the watch parts produced corresponded' to the metals on the snips. His Honor asked the foreman of the jury if he could see the metal on the tin snips, to which the foreman replied, "It all depends how the light strikes it, sir." Labelled as being found in Bayly's orchard, a false tooth was coated with vulcanite, declared witness. A piece of woollen material on the inside of which was some cotton material had been cut and pulled. Another piece of cotton material appeared to have been chewed. These, all of which were unburnt, came, according to label, from Bayly's pig paddock. Burning Experiments. Mr. Griffin, who was present at the two burning experiments conducted in Auckland with animal carcases placed in a furnace consisting of a 40-gallou drum, corroborated the evidence of Drs. Gilmour and Lynch, and produced pieces i.l charred rubber gum boot, which he had taken from the ashes. The mornling following the fire witness found pieces of paper, also twigs used in starting the fire. These were unburnt because they were at the back of the fire. On some of the twigs was fat impregnation. These were not touched by the fire owing to the Insulation of ashes on them.

Witness produced the two sheets of galvanised iron which were placed around the benzine drum furnace used it the second and first experiments. The two drums used in the experiments were exact replicas of the drum found_ on Bayly's property, the sheets of iron being of different lengths as were the two pieces found on Bayly's property. Witness showed the jury the smoke marks on the top side of the sheets of iron with which he had experimented.

At 4.30 p.m. Mr. Leary began to cross-examine the Government Analyst. You did not express the opinion that a human body could be burnt in a night in your evidence in the Felice Court?— No. There were a number of things that you examined that you reported gave a negative result? —Yes. ; While you were talking T tipped out a glass jar containing charcoal and I found among it a number of nails. Can you tell lis what they are?—l have a note that they are a number of nails. Mr. Leary then extracted several llinch nails. I only opened that one at random. Is there anything like that in any other specimen ?—ln one jar there is. Some tacks with pieces of burnt wood. There were old motor car springs on which were rust and- smoke soot, said witness, in reply to further questions

by Mr. Leary. These springs, be understood, were in Bayly's separator room. A sledge hammer examined by witness was fairly clean. There was no charcoal or bone on it, but some sand adhered to it.

Witness told Mr. Leary that a hacksaw seized from the garage had some white material on it, which turned out to be putty, and material in the teeth was not bone. He also examined a cherrywood pipe found in Lakey's garden, but the pipe piece found on Bayly's was not from the same type of pipe. A hammer taken from Bayly's revealed neither bone nor charcoal, and he did not find anything on a chopping block. A piece of fat in Bayly's drain had turned out to be household fat. Broken pieces of an engineer's hammer taken from Bayly's cowshed revealed nothing. Sweepings from a vice were ako examined, but nothing was found. A piece of typical swampy material bad also been examined. This, he understood, came from a part of a swamp where a diviner had said the body of Samuel Lakey would be found. His Honor: What, a diviner? Mr. .Meredith: A body diviner. He was not employed by the police, sir. We already have a log of wood through the diviner.