SUSPECTED INCENDIARISM

Waikato Times, Volume 91, Issue 14133, 9 August 1919, Page 7

SUSPECTED INCENDIARISM

SEVEN STACKS DESTROYED. AT THE RUAKURA STATE FARM. DAMAGE, ESTIMATED AT £4OO. What at,prfisont appears to be a case of deliberate, incendiarism occurred at the RuaKura,State Farm of Instruction last night,, .when seven slacks and the threshing combine, were destroyed oy hre. ■•,■ The fire was discovered by two of the returned soldiers quartered <>n the farm about. 8.20, when all the stacks were alight on the windward side, which is furthest from the roid bounding the paddock of green oats in which the stacks were. The stacks comprised 2i of wheat straw, 2i of unthreshed wheat and two stacks .-.f red clover for seed, and extended over a line from west to east of about 200 yards the clover stacks, which were the furthest east, some 75 yards away from the straw stacks, being slightly further back in the paddock than the others. What wind there was was from the south, at right angles to the' stacks, so that it would have been practically impossible for the fire to nave spread. from stack to stack, apart from the fact that they were all burning simultaneously. Mr Watkinson, the head ploughman, who lives in a cottage just across the road from the stacks, was working in his garden up to. eight o'clock, when there wsts no sign of fire, but as stated above, the whole of the stacks were alight and burning steadily 20 minutes later. •

The manager, Mr A. W. Green, passed the stacks on his way into Hamilton a! 7.35 arid everything was all right then, and he is unable to in any way account for the. Arc. The threshing plant, driven by the oil tractor, had been working oh the wheat stacks on Tuesday, but,' owing to a breakdown, work had to be discontinued. Mr Green received word in Hamilton of the fire, ,and at once returned to the farm... : The stacks were then burning fiercely, and is was impossible to save the combine i .,but the oil tractor was moved away to isafety. Mr .Green,-estimates the loss at the v.ery lowesi:at:£4oo. He comunicated with the.. holice, ■ and Senior-Sergeant Till- went out with him and made an investigation, ;but nothing could, 'he discovered >to •'throw any light on the cu.tbreak' and' though everything points to the "fli'e'S''having been deliberately started -in 'each ,; stack simultaneously, Mr Green can-'think of no reason for this being done. .

Apart from the value of the wheat and clover'SOTdT'f he" loss is increased by the fact that the former was from 'demonsirafttfri:plots, grown for experimental purposes, the results of which are now lost.

In connection with this fire, it may be recalled that a large stack of lucerne hay; iwas burnt down on Boxing Day, the cause at the time having been supposed to be spontaneous combustion. In the Tight of the present occurrence and the fact that the fire took place when practically everybody was awavfrom the farm, it gives rise to the suspicion that that outbreak may not have been accidental.

AN EARLIER OUTBREAK.

MR PILKINGTON'S STACK ABLAZE

About 10 minutes to 8 last night a stack,,o*. hay , .Qn Mr R. Pilkington's farm*.(Knighton',road; Hamilton, which is situated between 300 and 400 yards from the Government Farm, was discovered to be on fire. Mr Pilkington's son was the first to notice the outbreak, as he was about to retire for the night, the window of the lad's room giving a clear view to the haystack, which was situated about 100 yards from the house. Mr Pilkington, who was in the kitchen at the time, rushed out and found the stack on fire on the north side, away from the wind,. With the help of Messrs, Norris "and Richardson, two neighbours, Mr Pilkington succeeded in saving about half the ; stack, in which there were about two tons of hay. About a quarter of an hour after this outbreak was discovered the party noticed the smoke for some distance over the tree tops on the Government farm property.' 'Mr Pilkington had no insurance on his hay. From the road side, where fire started, the stack could be easily reached by leaning over the fence,' and the natural conclusion is that; the'-property was not entered. However this' fact enabled a saving to be effected'to half the stack, as there would have been no chance of doing so wj}h' the wind fanning the flames into the sta'ck.j