CHARGE OF ARSON

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 120, 17 November 1937, Page 15

CHARGE OF ARSON

MAN PLEADS GUILTY

SHOW BUILDING SET ON FIRE

On the evening of October 1 the Wellington Winter Show building and contents, valued at over £50,000, had an escape from destruction, by fire. Charged with wilfully setting flre to the building, John O'Grady, a labourer, aged 54, appeared before Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today. He pleaded guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. . ■ Detective-Sergeant f. Doyle prosecuted, and Mr. Haldane appeared for the accused. ■"=

George Mitchell, manager of the Wellington Show Association, said that the Winter Show building in John Street was the property of the association. It was a wood, iron, and asbestos building with concrete foundations. The walls were of galvanised iron, and. the floors were partly of wood and partly of concrete. The main part of the flooring was wood, and the roof was of asbestos over wooden rafters. The whole building was divided up by temporary wooden partitions, , It. was erected on City Council land held on a 50 years' lease. The building itself was valued «>t £40,000, and was insured for £30,000 at Lloyd's and the Royal Exchange Insurance Company. This was exclusive of furnishings of a total value of over £1600, which were insured at Lloyd's for £1000. In addition, space had been allotted to General Motors, Ltd., Dominion Motors, Ltd., Manthel Motors, and Wright, Stephenson, and Co., Ltd., for the temporary storage of new and used cars. These companies had cars valued at several thousands of pounds in storage there on October I.■•■ ~ . . ■

On the evening of October 1 he went to the "building in response to a telephone call. On arrival he saw.that an outbreak of; fire had occurred in a corridor on the western side, aboutfifty feet from the main entrance doors, It had broken out underneath the floor close' to the foundation of the wall. There was a gap of about four inches between the floor and the foundation at that spot, to allow air to-get to the Miniature' Rifle Association's range in the basement.immediately below.

LITTLE DAMAGE DONE.

The fire brigade had arrived before witness, and had cut away part of the flooring in order to extinguish thefire. A number of the floorboards I were burnt, and the.cost of repair was about £1. A number of new. motorcars were stored only a few feet from the fire, and these alone would .be valued at,.several thousand pounds. In the basement where, the fire occurred, were 200(J. wooden chairs and other combustible material. .Had the '.outbreak not been discovered, the result might have been very serious. . ;

The accused had. worked for the association and on relief work for varying periods during the past four years, but had not been employed there for four or five'months prior to the fire, though he had applied for employment. Instructions had been .■given riot to employ him as he was not a suitable person. He adopted a hostile attitude when refused work.

Cross-examined by Mr. Haldane, witness said that the accused would not be employed in burning rubbish. It was done outside under the supervision of the caretaker. If he had made his own' fires while employed there in clearing-up work, it would have been stopped as being dangerous.

Harry Bruce, officer in charge of the South Wellington Fire Station, said that the brigade received-the. call-at 6.44 p.m. on October 1. He had charge of the operations. A quantity of paper, and other combustible rubbish, was discovered under the flooring, and ■ this had ignited the. underside of- the joists and flooring. The main part of the fire was extinguished by bucket-pump, and part of the floor had to be cut away to'obtain, aocess to the fire. ■■••.

CARETAKER'S STORY.

William Frederick Wright, caretaker of the building, said ■ that ■he arrived. at the building, at 7 p.m. on the night of "the fire. About .September ,29 he had put about six used mop-heads, in a dust-bin about ten yards, from, the .scene of the ftre. He found one of these mop-heads, . still, smouldering, among .the debris. It should, still' have been in the dust-bin, .the contents of which were burned weekly under his supervision.. At intervals during, the past four years the accused was employed on . work about the grounds, and by the association inside the building. He- would be. well acquainted with the lay-out of the build-' ings, and had suggested that there should be a night-watchman about the place. Cross-examined, witness said that he had no knowledge of whether the accused used to burn rubbish by means of small fires while' employed about the building. Had he seen the accused or any other employee so doing, he would soon have stopped it.

Philip Chetwood Watt, builder, a member of the Wellington Kennel Club, said that about 6.40 p.m. on Octpi ber lj with two" other members of the. club, he went to the show building, entering it by the. main entrance, About 30 feet inside from the entrance, he saw the accused going towards, the main doors. At the end .of the. corridor, they saw flames coming up between the floor and the wall. Cardboard and other combustible material had been jammed down, into an.airspace, and were burning. The fire had just started, and,the accused had come from its direction.

PROMPT ACTION.

Witness and another man followed the accused outside, and located him on the western side of the building. On being asked to come back and tell them about the fire in the building, he became abusive. He took off his coat, and challenged witness to fight. The accused denied all knowledge of the fire, and declined to re-enter the building. In the meantime the other two members of the Kennel Club present kept the fire in check and called the brigade. The accused was under the influence of liquor.

Alexander William Cullen, who was with the previous witness, said that when, first seen the fire was burning, fiercely. He assisted to keep it in check by means of buckets of water until .the brigade arrived. . .......

John Henry Thompson, who also assisted, gave similar evidence. When he saw the flames, he said, he called out to the man who had passed him, and whom he could not identify with the accused. He then, went in search of water', and rang the brigade and Mr. Mitchell. In the meantime- a bucket brigade was formed. When witness called out, the man mumbled in- such a manner that witness concluded he was drunk. -At 6.30 p.m. there was no sign of fire.

Detective N.J. McPhee said that on November 4 he interviewed the accused, who made a voluntary stater merit. He admitted setting fire to the building, but said that he did not know why. Mr. Mitchell and the caretaker had a grudge against him, and would not give him work; In a signed statement, he said that he first went into the building to look for empty bottles. He dropped paper down the air-vent, and lighted it by dropping matches down on the paper t