BURNING OF A MILL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13103, 17 June 1913, Page 4

BURNING OF A MILL.

. QUESTION OF LIABILITY

The case of Cornelius W. Skelley (Mr Burnard) v. Frank Sloart (Air T. Alston ; , j Coleman) was continued at the Te ' : Karaka Court yesterday, before Mr W. JA. Barton, S.M. The plaintiff's case, a j claim' for . £86. 1% 3d, m respect of a ;. I timber -cutting . oontract atr .Matawtii, . ' was .heard ;in Gisborne last week, also I part of defendant's ■■ counter-claim for '£200 damages for alleged negligence m t regard to the hiring- of the defendant's jmiil at Matawai during the February , : bush fires. The hearing of the counter j claim was continued yesterday. i ! Cecil James Hacche, yardman, em- , i ployed by defendant (Sloan), said he ( { was for plaintiff m February ij [last. Be- was- yarding and slabbing 1 at : tthd . sanfe time, that being two men's | UvorK. 11 He threw the slabs into the j pit, but they were not burned, and the j pit filled up: : He drew plaintiff's at- 0 i tention to '.the heap, and. said, it; wartime they! were burned, as they were a ' ] ; danger to , the mill. Plaintiff told him : j to go. on --throwing them over, with f the . result that half-a-dozen heaps accunui- ■ ' lated between the pit and • the .mill. j> There were several favorable opportuni- ( ties to burn the slabs.. The fire that .. i burned the mill came over a small creek ' where the slabs were. The lire came \ round the cook-house and got into the ■ ! slab heap. • There were six whares , ] ! round the mill about three chains off. ' * ■ Had plaintiff stopped work earlier m the day, and saved the water, he might ' have- saved the mill, even though the' 'slab heap was there. Had the slab „ 'heap not been there, the mill would not i have been burned.— To Mr Burnard: ( The fire spread through the dead timber ; to. tlie slab -heap. The fire had swept \ ', lover, miles-, of. country ; befox-e reaching 1 'the mill. / •■'•/ '. ■ j j Conrad S. R. F. Hargreaves, engine- ' driver for defendant and who was work- j -ing for plaintiff at' the time of the fire, • j '•gave evidence of a similar nature. He j jsaid plaintiff did not do anything to < ' fight the fir,e. By the time the slabs ( caught the log fire had just about passed. ] I There- was no prospect of ths mill catch- ] ing fiTe had there not been an accumu- t lation of sliibs. t \ I , At this stage the evidence of Tom ; King, public works overaesr, was taken 1 , for the plaintiff. He said he was passing the mill on February 14 with Mr j Ross, about 5.45 p.m. All along the : road, the smoke was very dense, and more so near the mill. The fires were 1 about five chains from the mill to the [ westward. They , returned to the mill i about 7 o'clock, when the fire was burnjing on both sid^s.- About 9 o'clock the ; fire threatened to cross- the road and cut ; the retreat. It, was then time for all I hands to leave except those who had -'horses. Defendant, witness, and Mr i Ross went back to the mill to see if - . anything could be done. While they > were putting 'water on the mill a gust 1 of wind came and blew sheets of flame . from Hargreaves' whare on to the mijl. - Up to this time the mill was not badly i on fire. There were sparks which had i fallen from tall trees smouldering about, i J These sparks were falling everywhere,', 3 'on the slab heap as well. In his opin^ '. 3 [ ion, the cause of the fire at the mi T l ; . j was the same as the cause of t'ha slab j heap catching fire. Of course, the fire j y j was more fierce because of the slab ■ 'r I heap," but undoubtedly the mill would' I have been burned ' had there - been no

slab heap.. The lire was so fierce near ihe mill. that the hair on. a horse TidQen along the road by Constable, l}oyle was singed. —T6 Mt Colieman : The outbreaks from the wparks might- have been coped with for a time, but. •eventually the fire would have got the mastery. He did not see the fire get round the back of the cook-house into the slab heap. At this stage (5 p.m.) the hearing was adjourned until: 10 a.m. to-day, at Gisborne. Evidence for the defendant (Sloan) was continued, this morning. William Crump, mill hand, stated that defendant ti^ed. to' keep the slab pit burning continuously, and the mill clear of shavings, but plaintiff, when he took gver the mill, permitted the slabs and shavings to accumulate, No attempt was made to clear up when the null stopped working for six hours on February 1, . and the men were all idle. When he ,sa\v the fire encroaching on the mill on February 12, witness loft, as he was scared. Later he asked plain, tiff "(SUcHey) . if lie had not better do something with the lire, and he replied that the only thing he was afraid of was

the. slabs: but lie still went on cutting. Plaintiff did not do anything to cope with the fire. At 9 p.m. witness took a tour, through the mill to the slab heap, azid ho saw the far end of the slab heap was on fire. At that time the mill was not on fire. Witness went m and blew the whistle. Sparks were falling about the shavings, and witness, put them out. At 9.30 they all gathered together on the road, about a chain from j the mill, which 'had not yet caught. Later, when they went away, Sloan was missing, and Skelley said they would fetch him away from the mill if they had to knock him on the head. His Worship": What did he mean by that? Witness : It was said because it was thought Sloan had gone mad and would not lea,ve the mill. (Laughtlr.) In fact it was rumored at Matawai that Sloan had hung himself on the flywheel. (Keliewed laughter.) Continuing, witness said sparks were falling thickly on «nd about "his cottage, about two chains from the mill, but witness put them out, and the building was not burned.' But for the slab heap witness believed the mill could have been saved 1 . They had been /coping ( with the sparks, but the smoke from | the slab heap drove them away. Next

morning witness found that the fire had passed over the breaking-down bench, but it was not damaged. The greatest damage Avas done on the sides where the slabs were heaped. Some time after the fire, when they were discussing the present case, Skelley offered witness a job as henchman at his own mill, and ; said lie would pay him. higher wages. Witness did not accept the offer. 'To Mr Burnard : Witness was now employed by Sloan. When Skelley had the mill he paid higher wages than Sloan did; There was about 1000 ft of white pine timber stacked about half a chain from the mill. .Most of the slabs were on the far side of the timber. Had there been plenty of water they could liave stayed and put the sparks out. Five or six of the cottages around the mill were destroyed. There was some green scrub near witness' house. The breaking-down bench was constructed of iron, but the foundations were of wood. Leslie William Franks, winchman employed. 1 by defendant, and John Sloan, defendant's brother, also gave evidence on behalf of defendant. Mr Buirnard said the counter-claim was appareatly based on the alleged negligence , of Skelley to perform some j duty that was expected of him. It was I for Sloan to prove conclusively that the j fire was caused by the slabs and through the negligence of the plaintiff. Sawmillers who established' a mill m the ■bush Avhere there, had not been any second burn took a certain amount, oi risk, and they-, did not anticipate such a fire as swept the Motu district early this i year. Evidence would be called to show that that it would have been an •'■ improper thing for plaintiff to have ' burned the slabs, owing to the dry [.weather and the danger of setting the ' country ablaze. Plaintiff did not owe any special duty to the defendant. Evidence for the plaintiff would show that no matter whether the slabs were there -or not, it would, have been impossible to save the mill. It had been suggested that the water supply was low, but plaintiff could not perform a miracle m this respect. > George Sinclair Ross, Public Works | Department's official at Matawai, stated i that he was. m the vicinity of Sloan's mill on February 14. He arrived at the mill site first about 2 p.m. Later he was joined by Tom King, and they went to see if l-ey could render any assistance to the mills. They arrived at Sloan's mill about 6 p.m., and then : went further up the road. They met Constable Doyle driving m a buggy and pair, '■■'•and he was stuck up with lire behind and fire m front. They assisted him, and then returned to the mill about 8 p.m., when they found the fire had /gained considerably, and was coming m j a body on to the mill. Witness remain- ■ ed at the mill until 10.15, and at that ■ time there was no chance whatever of i, saving the mill. The direct cause of ; the burning of the mill was the second fire, which came from the north-west. At intervals the wind > came m fierce

.blasts. After the third cottage had caught a blast came along and blew sheets of iron, towards the mill. At that time the flames were leaping clean over the mill building. During that time witness was holding the horses, while King and Sloan went and' had a last look at the mill. The last blast came from the north- west, m the opposite direction from where the slabs were situated. At 9.30 there were fires all round the mill, and there was a fire m the far end of the slab heap, caused by the eddy of wind round the buildings taking the fire there. Al the same time 'the mill was alight m several places. He did not for a moment think the mill fii'e was caused by the slabs. . • ■ • His Worship : Supposing the slab heap had not been there, do you think the imill would have been burned? ; Witness: Yes, most decidedly. The mill was practically surrounded by standing dead timber, and the fire was approaching m two divisions, along the tops of the trees and along the ground. The mill was m an exceptionally dangerous position, - as- the surrounding ■country had been very densely bushed, and although it had been fallen and had one fire through it, there was still an enormous- quantity of dead timber about, both standing and lyintf. The clearings about the mill were quite inisufticieiit to save it m such a fierce fire. In reply to his Worship, witness said he did not think it would have been safo to burn the slabs daily at that time, as ■ the country was particularly dry, and the dead timber about was like matchwood^_^^^^^^^^^