ALLEGED INCENDIARSM

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 222, 29 September 1916, Page 7

ALLEGED INCENDIARSM

BURNING OF TWO OAT STACKS

THE CARE DISMISSED.

Before Mr F. O?B. Loughnan, S.M., ■vesteniay, Joseph Henry Parfitt, ■of ISillerrsdon, a young man, pleaded not trinity to a charge, of having on September "25th, ?et light to two stacks .of oaten sheaves at Lansdowne, the property of G. R. Watts, of the value of .CioO. Mr T. F. Relling appeared for the accused.

Sergeant Hanson conducted the prosecution. . Ra'ph Hendra, head ploughman on the Landsdowno station, said that j while coming along the main road in front of than property on Monday last, betwean 3.30 and 4 in the afternoon, he heard someone running j through t!i<\ plantation in the ■vicinity. The stacks were situated about 2GO yards from the road. Presently the sound of the running stopped, and he saw a man who appeared to be hiding behind a tree. He did not ppeak to the man. Proceeding along the road, he saw the stacks on fire. He went back and the man •wa1? still in the plantation. The witjiess asked him who sot fire to the f-tacks, smd the man said he did not kno-v, and tha.t< he was "just having a look." The mnn added, "You had better go and tell Mr Watts." The witness said Mr Watts was not at lioinc. The man said, "Tell his manager." The witness then continued his journey. He accompanied Oonstabks Cuminings and Favell to iho Hillersden flaxmill the following tiny, and recognised the accused as the person he saw and spoke to in the plantation. lie did not tell the aerusod. that Mr Watts was away in >^««kon; ho himself did not know Mr "Watts there.' There were- four stacks in the group,, and the two outpido ones, which were the biggest, Averp burned.

Cross-examined: He saw Parfitt v l.ilo he war. moving, and saw him <*t>?>p and hide himself behind the tree. He shouH say that the stacks had hcvix burning about ten minutes when jio first saw thorn.

Florence Norris, housemaid at Jiiinsdowne station, said that a6 about 3.45 p.m. on Monday afternoon...her attention was'drawn, by some children to the burnina; of the stacks. She j ■went strniffhti from tho house to the ; stacks. She saw somo footprints on the ploughed ground round the stacks. They led from the plantation towards the" stacks; sh© did not* see jmy footprints turning in the opposite rlirrction. She did not look for any. The marks hfjfd been made by nailed I oots (similar to .those produced). She 5:1 v no one about tine paddocks or the plantation. The stacks were about a mile from tho house. She was at 3/ansdowne last year when some stacks jon the same ground were burned doivn .'___■ Henry Howard, agent for the New Zealand Insurance Company, said ihat six stacks, including the two horned, were inusured in his office for £300 Oomtablo. J. Cummings said that, ivit.li Constable Favell, ho proceeded

to Lansdown© station on the 2oth. Oit the -Sttftii they took Mr Hondra. uojvn to tho flaxmill, and he identified I'nr-Jit.t :i>: the man ha i;»v in the planiiil.oll. When tli^y accosted him i-i'i-Lii.t .ippenivd \o be much upsfi. I'jirnit pive ji written stsi.winent (prouucn'ii; in which ho said that he w-ont into tho plantation for a certain purpose, w lien he. noticed that the stacks were on fire. Coming out again he met Mr Uendra and told him to tell Mr Watts or tho manager. Next day Parfitt was arrested. Cons-ta'jlo EL Favell gave lorroboratory evidence. The detence sought to prove an alibi. Counsel remarked that no evidence of motive- had been adduced, and not oven a suggestion made in that direction. 'Hie following witnesses wore called: — Spencer Hawkins, of Hillersden, laborer, said that on Monday last he was at the Wairau Valley Accommodation House for lunch. Ho left jt at about 2.b0. The accused was there , then; he was there all the time the ; witness was there —about an hour and ' a, half. The witness drove in the ; direction of Blenheim—half a mile or I so —and saw the stacks on fire. Ho j then turned back to the hotel to inform one of the Lansdowno employees who w ;»s there. He got there at about 2.45 and told the employee to go to the station and let them know. He j did not $to inside the hotel and could | not say whether the accused was still there. Charles Emmanuel, employed at tho Hillersden flax mill, said he was in Pnr&it's company at the Wairau Valley Accommodation House all the j •afternoon till Hawkins returned at | about throo o'clock with the news t '■ hat the stacks were on fire. Ho missed i Parftiit shortly afterwards. James "Walker, laborer, said that he saw the accused at the hotel up to tho tinv3 of Hawkins's return.

T.\e Magistrate, analysing tho evidence, go-ve due weight uo the case for the prosecution, but said that he could not disregard the fact that three witnesses had supported tihe appearances oi an alibi. Ho did not consider that a jury would convict, and he therefore dimsisscd the case.