SET FIRE TO SHIP

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27098, 22 July 1953, Page 6

SET FIRE TO SHIP

Youth Pleads Guilty To Arson REMANDED F<OR SENTENCE

“When this youth was interviewed by Sergeant Simpson and Detective Thomson he admitted starting the three fires on these ships. His only explanation was that he said he liked to see things burn.’’ said DetectiveSergeant G. W. Alty when he prosecuted a 17-year-old seaman in the Magistrate's Court yesterday on one charge of committing arson by wilfully setting fire to a ship and two charges of wilfully attempting to set fire to a ship. The youth, whose name was ordered not to be published meantime, pleaded guilty to the three charges. Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., remanded him in custody for a week for sentence, pending a report by the Probation Officer, but directed that he be kept apart from adult prisoners. The charges to which the youth pleaded guilty were that on May 27, 1953, at Lyttelton, he wilfully set fire to the motor-vessel Kawaroa, the property of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd., thereby committing arson; that on December 15, 1952, at Lyttelton, he wilfully attempted to set fire to the steam ship Waimarino, the property of the Union Steam Ship Company, and that on July 11, 1953, at Auckland, he wilfully attempted to set fire* to the Waimarino. Mr D. W. Russell, who appeared for the youth, said that the accused would be 18 in October and, because of his age and his not having been in trouble before, the Court might have him dealt with in the Children’s Court.

The Magistrate said the case was too serious to be referred to the Children’s Court. Detective-Sergeant Alty said that the accused went to sea as a deck £oy in 1951 and was now an ordinary seaman. “About 5 p.m. on December 15 last a curtain and mattress were found burning on the bottom bunk in the aft cabin occupied by the deck boy on the Waimarino at Lyttelton,” said Detective-Sergeant Alty. “Later the same day another fire, which caused damage to bunks and bulkheads, was discovered in the same cabin. The accused was instructed to keep watch on the cabin, and he reported another fire underneath the bunk in the same cabin. Suspicion was attached to a deck boy as be was under the influence of liquor. This deck boy was held to be to blame. He was paid off the ship and ordered to pay £8 for the damage. The Waimarino is of 3088 tons and is valued at £109,000.”

Fire on Kawaroa About 11.50 p.m. on May 27 there was a fire in the paint locker on the Kawaroa which was berthed at Lyttelton discharging wheat from Australia, said Detective-Sergeant Alty. The Lyttelton Volunteer Fire Brigade was called, and put out the fire. The contents of the paint locker, valued at £327 17s. were a total loss, and the cost of repairs to bulkheads, buckled deck and equipment was about £5OO. It was found that the tap of a drum of kerosene in the paint locker had been turned on. The accused later admitted turning on. the tap and putting a lighted match to the kerosene on the floor. There was a large quantity of kerosene, turpentine, and paint in the locker. An examination later showed that there had been another fire under the steering mechanism of the ship, said Detective-Sergeant Alty. Apparently it had been started with waste material and oil. but it had burned itself out after going through part qf a wooden grating and blackening the starting motor of the steering mechanism. Hao the steering mechanism been damaged the ship would have been out of commission for a long period. “The Kawaroa is of 3532 tons, and is valued at £453,000,” said Detective-Sergeant Alty. Oil Valve Turned On “On July 6, when the Waimarino was at Auckland, the second engineer found that the oil valve on the galley stove had been turned full on. The stove chimney was red hot and oil was running over the stove. The cook said he had left the oil turned low. On July 11. while the ship was still at Auckland, the cook found that the oil valve had again been turned full on and oil was running over the stove. If there had been a fire it would have endangered a 200-gallon tank of diesel oil fitted above the galley, and it would also have endangered the safety of the whole ship,” said DetectiveSergeant Alty. “When the accused was interviewed at Lyttelton by Sergeant Simpson and Detective Thomson he admitted starting the three fires. He said he liked to see things burn. He also admitted that he set alight curtains on the Kawaroa when the ship was two days out from Australia, and doing a similar thing on the Waimarino when the ship was between Timaru and Lyttelton. These fires were extinguished without further damage, and were not the subject of proceedings, 1 ” said De-tective-Sergeant Alty. Mr Russell’s application for bail was refused, but that for suppression of the accused’s name was granted in the meantime. Mr Russell said he would make his submissions when the youth came before the Court in a week’s time.