ALLEGED ARSON

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11951, 23 May 1933, Page 7

ALLEGED ARSON

A. W. P. DOLAN FOR TRIAL

PARAU STREET BLAZE.

kerosene TRACES claimed TO HAVE BEEN FOUND.

Arising-out of an outbreak of firo which occurred in a fivekroo-med house, No. 14 Parau street,'bn March .18 last, a charge of wilfully setting fire to tip building was levelled against the occupier, Arthur William ■"Patrick Rolan, 48, in the Police Court before. Mr. J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M., yesterday. According to the evidence led -by the police, traces of. kerosene were founn in the dining-room -after the fire ban been extinguished by the Brigade. At the conclusion of the .evidence, accused pleaded not guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court at Oisbornb for trial. Detective McLeod prosecuted ana Mr L. T. Rurnard appeared for accused. ‘ ■

Detective. McLeod stated, that accused' rented -a- house- .in. Parau street last year, but for some time had failed to pay hip rent. On the evening of March;. IS he made some tea at the house and then left, fire breaking. ouf later.. An examination after the fire was put out showed that - -A walls had been saturated with kernsene and also that there was no sign

of a fire having boon lighted' in the v grate as stated by ■ a caused.- Tho fii-v-Vriturc was insured for £9O and the piano a very old one, for £3O. Harold F. McKnight, the owner of tho house, stated that it was. built of wood and iron and contained five rooms. ■ ‘ Oh September 16, witness .leased the house at £1 2s 6<l per week to accused, who paid four Weeks’ .rent in advance. From December. 16 until the. fire, however, witness received no rent- at oil, despite repeated' demands both by himself and the land, agents. The house was insured in' the Queensland office for £6OO and witness valued it at £9OO. Ib had been reconstructed since the fire at a cost of £l6O. George R. Ardern. cleric employed by tho N.Z. Insurance Coy., stated that Up to January 4 last accused had held a .policy over furniture in a house in Grey street.. The policy later was transferred to eovej- the furniture in the Parau street house for the sum of £9O, with £3O on the piano. No claim had boon made to insurance up to the present time, as far a 3 witness knew. , John W. Kano, superintendent .ot tho Gisborne Fire Brigade, said ttm at 2.10 a.m. on March 19 a call was rocteived to .1.4 Parau street. T he house was filled with smoke and witness made a- hurried inspection from the outside, determining that ~y the seat of the fire ■was in the diningroom :■■■ Tb,e windows were locked and the blinds dll down, while the front, door was closed and the hack ono open. ’ An attack on the blaze wa s made through the diningroom window and, after the bln so "as under control,, witness inspected the inferior of tho building. On attempting to get into the diningroom, wit-' ness found the door would open only about two inches. He found it was kopt closed by a table, lying °n its edge on th,e floor, it being necessary to force this away to open the door. When the blaze had been extinguished he examined the diningroom itself and found a large quantity of furniture stored there, this eompris ing an upholstered suite, dming-room table, eight chairs, sideboard, _ piano, gramophone and sewing machine,; " As the result of his examination, witness concluded.that, the Grp start cd in a corner of the room behind the. piano, he having, no doubts as to ite origin bocanso of. the stale of .the wall and floor. When the diningroom was opened up, n very .strong smell of kerosene was noticeable, especially around about the pmno, Th o smoke affected the eyes,, apparently as the. •result of the kerosene \ fumes. About 9\30 a.m. the same K day, with Detective ; McLeod .and Constable.; Neale, he made a further inspection of the premises. A quantity. of scrim and paper was ; felton from behind the sideboard, also'from behind this piano,-all of which smelled ■ very strongly of kerosene. When •the, ashes and 'debris-." .wore .raked away from the floor Unbind the piano, that portion of,, tho, . r , floor, which had been well saturated by water- - during ’ the. extinguishing ■the fire,, ■still hold kero.sctte fumes, for when a match was place.]- on the hoard -it flared .up, The kerosene was also noticeable on tho water. Witness stated also■ that be saw the/.ashes removed from the grate. 'A jar • (produced) - was found under a tank ntlthe, rear- of the building, this also smelling , strongly- of .kerosene, , A -.kettle found - near the grate in the' diningroom contained rusty

water which had obviously been in it for a long .time. Thio whole of the. fire was concentrated in the diningroom.

Alexander L. Campbell,- of blessrs Grapdy and Sherman Ltd., stated that he , made an examination of the furniture in the; hoiiso occupied by accused. He estimated the value of the furniture,, before the fire, a> £l2O, this /being exclusive .of the piano which, he considered, Was worth £25. To Mr. Burnard, witness said he did hot take personal effects into consideration when making the valuation. ;. Mackenzie John White, public accountant and fire adjuster, stated that he dealt with the fire at accused’s house. The claim as submitted to witness by accused totalled £B3 -'for the furniture and £lO for the piano. To Mr. Rurnard, witness stated that the circumstances of the adjustment were rather unusual. Witness obtained a cony of the proposal before adjusting tho claim and. found that only ono previous fire had been admitted, whereas, to. witness’ own knowledge, there had been two. Witness was also informed by cho agent of another company that, some time previously, they had declined to renew a policy of .accused’s, but in the- proposal ncensor! said, no policy had been declined. On noticing these irregularities, witness referred |he matter hack io the company, bur wasasked to proceed with -rhd adjustment, without prejudice. This was referred, to accused who- was also asked to supply d-ytoils of. bis loss in the usual form. Accused complied and witness engaged Mr. Campbell to ni'ake the,- valuations which, generally speaking, were slightly lower than those of accused. Since then the adjustment had.been at a standstill, pending, advice from the-police that they were satisfied' the fire, was purely, accidental or otherwise. Tlri previous fires occurred -six or seven years ago-, otic being in a room and the other in a wash-house. Constable G. Neal stated that he attended the fire ou March 19, arriving there just after the Brigade and staying there- until the Games were extinguished. He corroborated the evidence of Superintendent Kane as to the conditions in the diningroom. After - tho brigade left tho firo, witness remained in charge and about 4 'a.m. accused arrived smelling strongly of liquor. V\ itnoss obtained a statement from him as to his movements, accused explaining that he had tea at a boardinghouse and then returned home where, about R p.m., be boiled the kettle -on the diningroom grate and made some tea’;' Leaving for' town about 8.30, he later went oni, visiting at Whal.aupoko for the night. Witness added that an examination failed to reveal any clothes in /the ■raicbesse o other drawers,

Detective McLeod gave corroborative- evidence regarding- the .examillation of the promises. About 3 p.m. on At arch 19, wit. esc. interviewed accused who made a statement to the effect that lie- was not in financial difficulties and that ho considered the furniture was worth £250. When he madio tea on the previous evening ho boiled the kettle,, over ,a, small j\ re which appeared completely °ul. when ho left the house ter town. Ho stayed in town until 11 p.m., and then went to a friend’s place at Whataupoko. Ho knew of no koro.seiic- or benzine being in the. house, and he did not know hew iho jav came to smell of kerosene. Witness went on to say that the jar, which accused claimed had been untouched for two weeks, was quite clean and without dust. There worn no finger prints on it. Inquiries bad boon made- as to accused movements on the nighr, ol the, fire, but nothing could be found regarding the gap from 8.80 p.m. to 4 a.m.

This concluded the evidence. Accused pleaded not guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court at Gisborne, for trial, but frying ••allowed .hail in accused’s own-re-cognizance of £IOO .with one surety, of a. similar amount. - -