HALL DISPUTE

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 October 1930, Page 8

HALL DISPUTE

BRIDGE SET ON FIRE AUCKLAND, September 30. In order to prevent a number of people from Te Puke attending a meeting to vote on the site of a proposed hall, two young men attempted to destroy the Kopouroa Bridge by fire. The bridge is situated on the main To Puke-Tauranga road and is three miles from To Puke. A certain amount of damage was done to the structure, but after the fire was extinguished the Te Puke people were able to pass over and at the meeting a resolution to erect a hall on the site favoured by them was carried by 50 votes to 46. As a sequel to the damage to the bridge, Roy Tannahill McLeod, aged 23, a farmer, of Papamoa, and George Ernest King, jun., aged 21, a farmer, of Papamoa, were charged in the Te Puke Magistrate’s Court to-day with wilfully setting fire to a structure affixed to the soil, t'p wit. the Kopouroa Bridge. Mr. Cooney appeared for the accused who pleaded guilty. They were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. The case arose out of a dispute as to whether the hall, which the Papamoa Hall Society proposed to erect, should be built on Ferguson’s site, which was favoured by the people of Upper Papamoa, or on McNaughton’s site, which had the support of people

0 living at and near Te Puke. A meet--1 ing had been called to decide the ques- ’• tion. ’ McLeod, in a statement to the police * endorsed by King, said he was one ‘ of five Papamoa settlers who asked ' that the meeting should be convened. > There was bad feeling between the Te < Puki and Papamoa people as to where ■ the hall should’be built. Snipe time 1 before the meeting there was general -.talk in the district, of blowing up the , bridge to stop the Te Puke people ■> from coining to the meeting. McLeod i said he was Hot in favour of blowing ■ up the bridge and he and King decided ’ to set fire to it. i Continuing his statement, McLeod - said he filled four sacks with kindling wood and put them on his truck at his own shed. He also had three gallons of kerosene ready. He arranged to pick King up near the hitter’s home so that. King’s absence would not be noticed. King went under the bridge and sprinkled the sacks of wood and the bridge with kerosene. This was ignited and the accused drive away -in the truck. McLeod expressed regret for having damaged the bridge. King also wrote a statement in which he said McLeod's version of the affair was true. Excellent characters were given the accused by several well-known settlers. Bail was allowed pending sentence.