SPREAD OF FIRE
BUSH DESTROYED. N ETC PI BOUR RE SPONSIBLE. (Per Press Association.—Copyright.) NELSON, This Day. Judgment for £2OO with costs was given 'by Mr Justice Reid, in the Supreme Court, for Martin Maynard Johnson, against Leonard Philip Russ, in a civil claim for damages arising out of a bush lire in Sunrise Valley on January 20. Plaintiff, who claimed £I3OO, submitted that the fire spread from a scrub fire on defendant's adjoining property to a beech bush, 29 acres being damaged. Conflicting expert evidence estimated the damage from nothing to the full amount of the claim. ‘Giving his decision, the -Judge said it was purely a question of facts. He was satisfied that the lire originated from the burning scrub lit by defendant. Commenting on the conflicting evidence, His Honour said he must take a shot in the dark in assessing the amount of damages, as there was no evidence to be relied upon.
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Northern Advocate, 23 March 1934, Page 2
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156SPREAD OF FIRE Northern Advocate, 23 March 1934, Page 2
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