DESTRUCTION BY FIRE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 64, 12 September 1912, Page 8

DESTRUCTION BY FIRE

-I""" "Verdict for plaintiff. *" ' ' The flax-burning case was continued before Mr. Justice Chapman and a «' special jury at the Supreme Court today. "The' plaintiff, A. A. Brown, fla* miller, of waikanae, claimed £2827 10s « < compensation for damage done to flaxbearing property l»y a hre on 10th September, 1911. He alleged that the fire was lit by the defendants, Frank and ' "Ralph Hadfield, occupies of afi adjoin- • ing property, Mr. C. P. Skerrett, K.C., with him Mr. A. de Brandon, jtui.. appeared for plaintiff, and Mi 1 . C. B. Monson, with Jam- .Mr. E. F. Hadfield, for the defendants. Yesterday four members of the special jury visited the scene of the fire. To^ , ,^lay counsel concluded their cases and .addressed the jury. ■The following issues were submitted , •to the jury and answered after a brief •retirement :-— V"";(l) Did the fire which destroyed, the - flax spread from a fire lit by the dereridarits?—Yes. " ' (2) If so, did the defendants light this iire in tho ordinary course of farming?— Yes. (3) If so, did the defendants take all --'reasonable precautions against the same causing injury to plaintiff's flax?— No. (4) Did" the plaintiff, after seeing the 1 fire among his flax, abstain from taking reasonable precautions to save such flax 1 from being burned?— No. , (5) Could the plaintiff, by taking any "further precautions, have saved any subf stantial pan of the flax from bein, t burntr-(a) upon Messrs. Hadfields' lanu, » (b) upon plaintiff's leasehold ?— No. t The amount of damages was not subrmitted to the jury.