The Feilding Star. TUESDAY. MARCH 20, 1883. BUSH FIRES.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 81, 20 March 1883, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY. MARCH 20, 1883. BUSH FIRES.

I VYk consider the following case of sufficient importance to our readers to publish it in our leading columns. The It.M. Court, at Hawera, gave judgment in the case Fitzgebald v. Cbowley, a few days ago, in the following terms:— "The plaintiff sues for damages sustained by reason of a fire lighted by the defendant on his land (section 5, block 15, Kaupokonui district), which spread to the plaintiff's land (section 4) and destroyed his hut, grass seed, and other property, to the estimated value of £100. A number of witnesses were called, and evidence as to the fire and the value of the property damaged was gone into at some length. It was admitted that a fire was lighted , by the defendant on his land. By the common law, a person who lights a fire is in general responsible to his neighbors \ as regards the safekeeping of such fire ; but persons on whose estates fires acci- ' dentally begin are protected by statute from actions, and in order to illustrate the distinctions drawn by the courts in these cases, I cannot do better than quote from Addison's work on Torts (Negligent and Accidental Fires, pages 129, 130, and 131). Hence the mere act of lighting a fire would not necessarily render the lighter responsible for damages, and he would be excusod if the fire spread from some unforeseen and superior cause which could not havo been prevented. The first question, therefore, to be considered is whether the plaintiff has proved negligence or carelessness on the p'rt of the defendant, or if, on the other hand, the damage that accrued to the plaintiff was accidental and beyond the control of the defendant. The commencement of the fire was not observed by the plaintiff or his witnesses, but the witness Prestidge appears to have been the first to notice it. He says that there was little or no wind when he first saw it; that he could not tell in what direction the fire was then going; but that the smoke seemed to be curling towards the plaintiff's land. The plaintiff seems to rely princilly (1) on the omission of the defendant to give notice of the burn ; (2) on the time chosen being too early in tbe season ; (3) on the state of the wind and weather at the time rendering it imprudent to light the fire ; and he has directed his evidence principally to the extent and value of the damages complained of. He and others of his witnesses agreed that when they first saw the fire, the wind was blowing from the defendant's and towards the plaintiff's land, or from a southerly direction. The defendant says that when he lighted the fire the wind was from the westward, or from the direction, of the plain tiff's land towards his, and that he started it about four chains to the rear of his house at 11 o'clock a.m., when it was not blowing hard. About twenty minutes after he had lighted the fire, the wind changed, and the whole condition of affairs was altered. The fire then, instead of spreading in the direction intended, and which it would have done had the wind continued as when it was lighted, took a contrary direction, with the change of wind, and got beyond oontrol, destroying the defendant's own outhouse, garden and other property ; and it was only by great exertions that the house was saved. This seems a reasonable account ; for ifc is hardly probable that the defendant would have lighted a fire with the wind in such a direction as wonld not only injure his neighbor, but must first of all burn his own homestead. On the fact of the change of wind, <ye have the independent testimony of the witness Robinson, who hays that on the morning of the 16th January the wind, when he first observed it, was blowing from the west, and that it afterwards changed to the south, which caused him to leave his work and proceed to the scene of the j fire. With regard to no notice of the burn having been given, the defendant says that the wind blowing as it was when he lighted the fire, there was no danger to the plaintiff, and he did not consider ifc necessary. Still ifc would liave been better hnd notice been given, as the event proved. A s to burning s o early as January, there does not seem to be anything unusual in that. In some seasons, and notably the present, early bums appear customary and advisable ; in fact, convenience or the dryness or otherwise of the season, appear to be the guides, and the plaintiff himself burnt early for two seasons, and gave no notice to bis neighbors. On the whole, I am of opinion that negligence has not been proved, and that the fire spread accidentally to the plaintiff's land owing to the change of the wind which took place after the defendant had lighted the fire. The decision will, therefore, be in favor of the defendant, with costs." Another Cflße, MABTIN FITZGKBALD V CfiOWLST, w_s decided by the same judgment, verdict again being for defendant.

We remind our readers that tlie Frisco mail closes ou Thursday evening, at 7 p.m., instead of Friday. In our next issue we will publish an interesting account of a visit paid to tlie petrifying springs at the Makino. Mr Montgomery, M.H.R., is running opposition to Major Atkinson, "on the stump " The walking contest at Sydney has resulted in a victory for Edwards, who walked 373 miles ; O'Leary did 350 miles. His Excellency Sir William Jervois returned to Wellington on Saturday morning, in the Hinemoa. He will visit Auckland next month. O'Donovan Eossa attributes the attempt to blow up the Government and London Times Offices to the action of some skirmisher ! ! ! The season for shooting native game commences to.day. Pigeons and wild duck are very plentiful in the back country, so sportsmen visiting Kiwitea and the Wanganui H arbor Reserve will have a " good time." A close holiday will be observed at the Post Office, on Good Friday. No mails will be despatched or received. On Easter Monday the office will open from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. The curate of St. John's Church announced, on Sunday evening, that the following services would be held during this week : — Wednesday, 7.30 p.m., after which there will be a choir practice; Friday, at 8 p.m. ; Saturday, at 8 p.m. The illicit distillers named Jessop and Pyke, who were arrested near Palmerston yesterday, were brought up and remanded to-day. The other men connected with the distillery are well-known and will shortly be arrested. The distillery is described as the finest ever erected in this part of the world, and must have cost upwards of £400. We understand that the next celebration of the settlement of Feilding, is proposed to be held on the day of the anniversary of the Wellington Province, viz., 22nd of January, and that the programme will probably comprise a picnic or some out-door amusement, to be followed by a bull or some public entertainment in the evening. The Government have determined at once to call for tenders for the filling-in of the gap in the railway line between Manutahi and Hawera, and we (Wanganui Chronicle) are gkd to say, for the information of our readers up the coast, that there is to be no further delay about constructing this very important link in the chain of communication between Foxton and New Plymouth. By the Government Gazette of the 15th instant we learn that the Rev. F. C. Dewsbury has been removed from the list of Officiating Ministers belonging to the, Wesleyan Methodist Society. Mr Dewsbury has been an invalid for some years, and consequently unable to fulfil his duties as a clergyman. His many friends in this district will regret his retirement from the Church. There was a good attendance at the Government parade of the Manchester i Rifles, last night. The men fell in on the cricket ground at 7 o'clock, and were drilled sharply by Staff Sergt-Major Henry until 9.35. After the conclusion of the evolutions, volunteers for the Easter Encampment at Wanganui were called for and about a dozen stepped out. After the parade several men signified their intention of going up. According to the Panama -Star and Herald, two vessels have narrowly escaped destruction by meteors. One was the steamship Lima of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, and the other was the United States man-of-war Alaska. A meteor which plunged into the ocean close by the last named ship just after sunset on December 12th, is said to have terrified everybody on board by exploding with a great noise and a burst of flame just before it struck the water. The number of publichouses in Copenhagen is to be reduced from 1350 to 300. No showily dressed girl is to be allowed to stand behind a drinking bar to fascinate the youth of the other sex. Land-, lords are forbidden to serve out drink to any person under eighteen years of age, male or female, or to anyone already under the influence of drink. A drunken person is to be conveyed to his own dwelling in a cab or covered carriage, at the expense of the landlord in whose house he took the last glass. Mr Horace Bent, assisted by some of the best local talent, will give an entertainment at the Town Hall, Feilding, on Monday night. The great feature of the show will be Mr Bent's inimitable impersonatien of the great war correspondent, Mr Archibald Forbes. This representation is admitted by the whole Press of the colony to be one of the most mirth-prov king lectures ever delivered. The carricature is perfect and is yet in snch perfect good taste, that even the great war correspondent himself- would be amused at his "second self as pro- ; duced by Mr Bent. V rfie other parts of the programme will be found very amusing, and far beyond anything of the kind that has been produced in Feilding.

i'iv pas-ii-ii^cr rates nuw ia force i>n the Wanjranui Railway Line are published over the lender. Large numbers of laborers in the West of Ireland have expressed a desire to emigrate to Queensland. There are thirteen grounds for divorce in Kentucky, and the next Legislature intends to briug in cold feet as an additional one. It has often been noticed by hospital surgeons, says the Lancet, that severe, curious, or out-of-the-way accidents soem to occur in groups, but of this no adequate explanation has ever been given. Out on the plains of New South "Wales, says an exchange, the devotees smoke in the local churches, which are well filled in consequence. When the attendance begins to fall off, beer will probably be added. At Lasalie, America, while officiating at a marriage, a short time ago, the Rev George F. Bronson, pastor of the Congregational Church, fell dead at the feet of the couple, just as he pronounced them husband aid wife, The London World says of Oscar Wilde : "He goes back to America in the fall, then to Australia, and ultimately to Heaven. The lavish adornments of the latter place will perhaps strike Oscar as inartistic and in bad taste. "Atlas" in the World describes Mr Murdoch's " chat about cricket " as "poor stuff." Says "Atlas": — "He tells us nothing that ' every schoolboy' does not know as well as he, and tells it in such a style as makes it very lucky for Australian cricket that he is better with his bat than his pen." We would suggest to the gentlemen who are concerned with Mr Bent in promoting the entertainment on Monday j night that some precautions be taken to prevent interruptions from noise during the progress of the show. A piece of matting laid up the middle of the hall would deaden the sound of persons going to their seats. But the most important point will be to keep in order tne congregation of bighspirited youngsters who generally attend. It would be well to appoint some person to be stationed in the rear of the hall who cnuid easily keep in order or eject any person that was too noisy. One of our Kiwitea subscribers seeing the advertisement on our leader page of Mr Fitzgerald's "Fluid Extract of Koromiko," for the cure of diarrhoea and dysenteric diseases, determined to try its effect. His success has led him to write the proprietor a certificate, which forms an advertisement in the Evening Post. We write this not only because it shows the advantage of judiciously advertising but also from a desire to give still further publicity to what appears to be an excellent remedy for certain complaints which are apt to be prevalent at this season of the year. The medicine is prepared by Mr W. C. Fitzgerald, Pharmaceutical Chemist, of Wellington.