ALLEGATIONS OF ARSON

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1930, Page 8

ALLEGATIONS OF ARSON

WAIKATO POLICE ROUND-UP SEVEN YOUTHS ARRESTED. HOUSES AND CARS BURNED. By Telegraph.— Press Asuoeiation. Cambridge, July 8. Following on the appearance at tha Court yesterday of two yoiilig men, who were remanded on a charge of the theft of a motor-car from the Town Hall on .Saturday night, came the most sensational happening in the district known for many years, when the Cambridge police, assisted by Hamilton detectives, arrested five other young men. The arrested men are Sidney Walter Goodall, John Vickers Featherstone, Alfred Brown, Edward Brown, Allen Pennell, Jack Meredith and Ilarvle Hall, There has been a series of mysterious happenings in Cambridge and Hamilton of late months, including fires, in unoccupied houses, theft and the burning of motor-cars. The suspicions of the police were aroused and were strengthened yesterday when Goodall and Featherstone were charged with the theft of a car from the Cambridge Town Hall, the upshot being the sensational cleanup effected by the police. Charged with being concerned in setting alight to unoccupied houses (two in Cambridge and bne in Hamilton), within the last few weeks, the seven young men appeared later in the Hamilton Court. i Detective-Sergeant Thompson said that accused were an organised gang of young hoodlums . who toured the countryside in a ear. They were believed to be responsible for several fires, including houses and cars. Bail was allowed in two cases only-