ARSON ALLEGED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 106, 7 May 1942, Page 8

ARSON ALLEGED

NORTH AUCKLAND CASE

A surfaceman from Tautoro, near Kaikohe, Hermann Holtz, aged 54 years (Mr. Noble), was put on trial before Mr. Justice Callan and a jury in the Supreme Court on a charge that on January 31 he wilfully set fire to a Maori whare, thereby committing the crime of arson. Outlining the evidence for the Crown, Mr. S. Cleal stated that the whare in question was the home of a Maori family, about a mile and a half distant from his own place. Holtz had a grievance concerning some furniture in the Maori house which he claimed, and the Maori family members were afraid of him. About 5 p.m. on January 31 accused, who had been in Kaikohe and apparently had some drink, went to the Maori whare. The wife and family saw him coming and ran away. From a distance they saw Holtz collect some sticks and a flax kit bag, place them against a wall of the whare and set fire to them. He then went away and lay down in some fern and a Maori boy ran to the house and threw water on the kit bag, putting out the blaze, but the weatherboards were all charred. Seen afterwards by the police Holtz said he was drunk at the time and did not remember what happened.

Evidence on the lines Indicated is proceeding.