SCRUB FIRE DAMAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23061, 11 June 1938, Page 22

SCRUB FIRE DAMAGE

PUKEKOHE CLAIM DECISION RESERVED [from otjr own correspondent] PUKEKOHE, Friday Damages amounting to £IOO were sought by Mrs. Marjorie Black from Norman Robert Caie, before Mr. W. H. Freeman, S.M., in the Pukekohe Magistrate's Court yesterday. The claim followed damage allegedly caused by a fire lighted on defendant's land in Bombay on January IS and allowed to spread into plaintiffs property. - ■

The plaintiff's case was that, as a result of the' fire, over 80 acres or bush and scrub, as well as several stacks of fencing battens, had been destroyed. She submitted that the area was nciw infested with ragwort, which constituted a liability. The sum of £6O was included in the claim for tho sodium chlorate and labour necessary to* clear tho ragwort, and £2O for sowing the burned-out area with grass. The extra work caused by tho fire provented plaintiff from sowing eight acres of ploughed land, and she claimed £lO for this. A further £lO was claimed as the value of tho battens and other wood destroyed.

The defendant stated tliat the actual bush destroyed would not bo much more than two or tlireo acres, nnd ho ■denied the existence of any marketable timber. Ho that ragwort had always' been thick in the biirnedout. area, and that the fern would soon grow .'again. " ' .V . ' • The defence further submitted : thnt the plaintiff was compelled by law to control the. ragwort, which was On the property in any case, and disputed the £6O claimed for -this. Defendant elaimed'that, as plaintiff had neglected to sow tho eight acres of ploughed land, she was not entitled to claim compensation- for it. He also claimed that thtr cost of resowing tho burned area was not* properly recoverable, as this constituted a permanent improvement. The. magistrate reserved his decision pending a personal visit to .the property. r : J