ARSON ALLEGED

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 15, 19 January 1927, Page 10

ARSON ALLEGED

INCIPIENT FIRE

ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR . ' ;; TRIAL

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day. In an arson charge against Joseph Henry Trask (47), heard yesterday afternoon, S. V. Wright, a- dairyman, said that his house was attached to the Hauraki Dairy in Lake road. The accused was in his employ for about five weeks previous to January, but before the holidays he was drinking heavily and his work was unsatisfactory. Trask had to. be ordered out of the living quarters. On Ist January the family retired at about 8.30 that evening, but were awakened some hours later. Upon going outside, it was found that kerosene had been sprinkled on the porch while a sack, which served as a doormat, was half burned.. The surround-' ing timber was marked by iire. A constable stated that he went to the accused's house.after the fire and found him asleep .in bed, fully clothed, and under the. influence of liquor. Witness awakened hini and asked him how the kerosene had got on his clothes. The accused said that it got on his coat on Christmas' Eve. When asked what he had been doing at the Hauraki dairy, he said he had not been there since six o'clock that evening. The accused pleaded not guilty and was committed' for trial. Bail waa allowed a,t £100.