Arson Charges; Over Rongotai Wool Fire

Grey River Argus, 2 November 1948, Page 3

Arson Charges; Over Rongotai Wool Fire

WELLINGTON, Nov. 1

The trial of five men charged with conspiring and committing arson, by setting lire to No. 5 shed at the R.N.Z.A.F, station at Rongotai, Wellington, on September 25, 1946, began in the Supreme Court to-day before Mr Justice Cornish.

Two of the accused, Alexander Lynn Mclntosh, aged 26, a farm labourer, and Leslie Arthur George Lloyd, aged 28, aircraftman, reversed their Lower Court pleas of not puilty to pleas of guilty. Two other men, Francis Elston Wallis, aged 20, a tram conductor, and Hugh Norman Montgomery, aged 22, a tally cle: k, previously pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court. The three men who to-day pleaded not guilty are Eric Vincent Shea, aged 21, a greengrocer; Ernest Roy Unsworth, aged 20, a farm labourer; and Frederick Charles Boniface, aged 22, aircraftman. Outlining the Crown case, the Crown Prosecutor, Mr W. H. Cunningham, said the fire caused a net loss of over £822,000. The store housed a great quantity of wool. Although the police made searching inquiries, continued Mr Cunninyham, it was not until July of this year that they were able to apprehend the seven men who had formed the fire-crew of the establishment.

The cause of the fire, said Mr Cunningham, was that the men had heard the station was to be closed down, in which case it was’ very probable that the fire-crew would be disbanded.

“In the services’ language,” sa’.d Mr Cunningham, “the fire-crew thought they had a pretty cushy iob and did not want to be deprived of it.” The Crown’s case was that the fire was prepared by pouring two four-gallon tins of petrol, taken from a crashed tender, on to wool and setting fire to it. Montgomery, said Mr Cunningham, poured the petrol and Wallis after lighting it, cycled past the guard and gave the alarm. Other members of the crew, who had ruffed their beds and put on their uniforms over their pyjamas, then turned out to fight the fire, but it had taken hold and their efforts were unsuccessful.