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70. Could that fire have been easily beaten out at the time ?—I do not know that. Generally, when you are beating out a fire it spreads more, unless you have proper control of it. 71. No. attempt was made to beat this fire out ? —I do not think any one knew about the fire until it had a good hold. When people began to rush, I suppose it extended for chains along the fence and the gorse. 72. Did you give the alarm ?—I said in the town that there was a fire on the railway-line, and that the grass was on fire. When I had taken my horse out, the fire had a strong hold and all the people were running up. John Gardiner, sworn. 73. Mr. Lane.] You are a farmer residing in this district?— Yes. 74. You are the owner of the land, and the stock and crops destroyed by fire on the 2nd January, 1897 ?—Yes. 75. When did you first hear of the fire ? —I was out in the paddock with a man's dinner when I heard of it. 76. You and your men did all you could to save the property, and to prevent the fire spreading ?—Yes. 77. Will you tell us the direction in which the fire appeared to be coming when you first saw it?— Tell us, also, how it entered your land, and the nature of the fields it passed over?—lt was coming towards the house when I went to it. 78. Is that in the direction of what you call the railway reserve ?—Yes. 79. And the railway-line ? —Yes. 80. Does the reserve adjoin your boundary ?—Yes. 81. And the reserve is right up to your fence ?—Yes. 82. Did you go along the line on the day of the fire, and see where the fire had apparently started? —No, I did not. 83. Or afterwards ?—No. 84. You estimate that you had from three miles to three miles and a half of fencing destroyed ?—Yes. 85. Now, his Worship wants you to explain as clearly as you can the nature of the fence, and what is a fair and reasonable sum to repair it. How much fencing was destroyed ?—About two or three miles. 86. You cannot say for a certain ?—Three miles or more. 87. Are you prepared to accept the department's estimate of the length of fences destroyed, and the area the fire covered ? —Yes. 88. Now, as to the damage : the fences were gorse ?—Yes. 89. You estimate your damage to the fencing at ss. a chain ?—Yes. 90. And you are prepared to take the department's estimate of the extent of fencing burnt ?— Yes. 91. Then, you estimate that the fire passed over 200 acres of grass? —Yes. 92. What do you estimate your grass at per acre ?—About Bs. 93. The grass was all thoroughly destroyed ? —Yes. 94. And you had to plough again ?—No, but the grass was destroyed. 95. Did the fire run through the oat-crop? —It ran in strips through the oat-crop, and men were engaged in beating it out. 96. And, although the department put it down at 36 acres, you consider that a larger area was damaged through the fire ?—Yes. 97. You estimate it, roughly, at between 60 and 100 acres ?—Yes. 98. You based your claim for damages on its value as oat-sheaf?— Yes. 99. As a farmer, and judging by what you got from the rest of it, will you tell his Worship what you estimate as the production per acre of oat-sheaf ?—About a ton and a half. 100. Did you sell any oat-sheafs here ? —Yes. 101. At what price?—£2 10s. 102. I think it was a particularly high price, owing to the droughty season ? —Yes ; but I sold the year before at £3. I had 2 tons to the acre. 103. You estimate you lost over 60 acres, and the production per acre was a ton and a half, and it was worth £2 10s. a ton? —Yes, that is what I sold at. 104. And you had sown grass with the oat-crop ?—Yes. 105. To come up and be used for grazing after the crop was harvested ?—Yes, and it was up at the time of the fire. 106. And was that ruined to the same extent as the crop ?—Yes, about the same. 107. You also had some sheep destroyed?— Yes, some ewes and lambs. 108. How many sheep had you in the grass paddock?— Six hundred. They were ewes and lambs. 109. What breed ?—Half-breed. 110. Age?— The sheep were full-mouthed. 111. You are sure about the number of sheep at the time of the fire?— Yes. 112. Can you give us any idea of the percentage of lambs they had with them?—l forget the number of lambs. I did count them, but I cannot remember the number. , . 113. After the fire, how many ewes did you take out that lived ? —About seventy or eighty sheep were taken out of the paddock. 114. Including lambs ?—Yes. 115. All the rest were destroyed ?—Yes, they were dead. 116. What did you do with the seventy that you took out?-—I put them into a paddock, but they all died but about forty.