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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXII, Issue 90, 25 April 1898, Page 3

t i (The steuuior Takapuna has a fine search b light, whioh will be shown this evenin] • as she departs from Nelson. iTho sigh i should be of great interest, especially i ; sho discovers a Spanish cruiser lurkini > under tbe leo of tbe Moutere Bluffs. ' The export trade in rabbits is apparently ' ently a profitable one, large consign ' ments still being sent to London. During the last three weeks 206,240 rabbits havi 1 been paoked by the Agriloulture depart ' ment and shipped to England In ad] dition to that, 2.030 caroases of mutton to London ia the s.s, Warrigal, and SOC dozen eggs to Cape Town. In giving judgment in a . Southland bush fire case, in which Wm. Burke sued Sabina Baird, Forest Hill, for .£2O damages, caused by defendant's negligent use of fire on her farm, whereby a quantity of newly-felled scrub and timber in the plaintiff's care was scorched aud partly burnt. Major Keddell, S.M., as reported iv a Southern contemporary, said ;— " I .find in this case the firo is rightly attributable to the defendant, whose servants showed negligence and carelessness of their neighbour's rights in selecting the time they did for burning off their felled timber. The only precaution taken wns the clearing left between the defendant's land and his neighbour Dunlop's. The defendant's timber had been felled a considerable time,' and, it is shown, would havo burned readily on a calm day, whereas on the' oveniUg on which ifc was fired thero was what was termed a stiff breeze blowing. It must also be .borne in mind that this day, lst January, is a universal holiday, on which many peoplo will bo absent from their homes. 1 don t think the selection of the day was wise. A person who fires his timber in a stiff breeze can hardly claim indemnity because the burning pf his neighbour's property was a consequence of vis major. The defendant was "responsible for the damage caused to l.ho plaintiff, which I find amounts to £11 6s, the wages and keep of the three extra hands for two weeks and a half, and costs. Judgment accordingly."