THE AFTERMATH.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 394, 23 April 1908, Page 5

THE AFTERMATH.

BUSH FIRES. CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION. At the S.M. Court yesterday before Mr A. D. Thomson, S.M. r . Michael Spelmau. farmer, Awahou, (Mr Loughuau) claimed £124 ssfrom Joseph Liuklater, farmer, Awahou (Mr Inuesj for damage done to hisproperty by firos alleged to hat%*beeu started "by defendant. The statement of claim alleged tliat on cr abont the 10th January last defendant lit a fire on his land which spread on to the property of the plaiutiif, doing the damage wheretor the claim was made. ", The defence denied that defendant or his servants lit the firos which caused the damage. -■• Mr Innes asked that the question of liability bo settled before the amount of damage was considered. The plaintiff, Michael Spelman, said that he noticed the fire first on the 13th January, 1908. On that day there was a strong wind whioi* swept the fires over to his property. Stab fences were destroyed between. his property and Millson's (whose property is managed by defendant, his son-in-law). Defendant .voluntarily repaired the destroyed fences. Plaintiff then asked defendant what he intended to do in respect to the damage done to his (the plaintiff's) property, and defendant replied that he had not imagined when he started the fire that it would spread so far. On the 3rd March defendant wasshown the extent of the damage, and asked what witness would consider reasonable compensation. An aocount for damages was made out, and that was the last interview between the parties. Cross-examined, witness said that he first saw the fire from the top of a terrace behind his house, adjoining Millson's property. There was a on the Government reserve at the rear of his section, but there was a. belt of bush between that fire and * his property, and the fire on Millsou's property was the cause of the , damage Margaret Spelman, wife of plaintiff, said that the fire had first come n , on to plaintiff's property between &'" and 7 p.m. on . the 13th. She corroborated her husband's evidence as to defendant having admitted liability for the damage and having asked for a statement of its extent. Jeremiah Joseph Lynch, farmer, Pohangina, corroborated plaintiff's evidence as to the damage done. He did not see any fire on the Government reserve on that day. Mr Innes, for defeudant, admitted Linklater's responsibility for the fire on Millson's property, but contended that plaintiff should prove that the fire which caused the damage, not only came from defendant's property, but was started by defendant. For the defence, Joseph Linklater, farmer, Awahou, admitted having started a fire on the 11th "which was pulled up after traversing 'half an • acre of a gully about 40 feet deep. He ceased lighting fires at 10 a.m., and when he left the place at 8 o'clock that afternoon the fires were almost burnt out. Hβ noticed a fire on Seabury's place at the back of his property. He had not given instructions to any of his men to light a fire. On going over the properties on his return he found traces of fire between Seabury's and Spelman'e. property. He denied having stated that when he had started the fire he did not know it would go so far. As to his conversation with plaintiff on the 3rd March he considered plaintiff's offer to accept £100 as compensation was monstrous. Cross-examined, witness admitted that in his conversation with plaintiff on the 3rd of March he practically admitted his responsibility, but the amount claimed by Spelman on that occasion was too high. He denied having lit fires on the 13th January. The case was adjourned until Tuesday next. '