SETTLERS INDIGNANT

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12614, 26 November 1926, Page 11

SETTLERS INDIGNANT

ACTION FOR FIRE LOSS ALLEGED UNNEIGHBOUKLY CONDUCT. Per Press Association. BLENHEIM, November 25. Tremendous public interest has been aroused throughout the liai Valley district as the outcome of the recent Supreme Court action wherein A, M. Hebberd, an Opouri settler, secured judgment for £360 and costs aaginst a neighbour, Leonard Neal, as the result of a fire alleged to have been started by Neal. It spread to Hebberd’s place, and destroyed two houses and other property. At a public meeting held at the Rai Valley, uncomplimentary references were made to Hebberd’s action. Jt was felt throughout the Pelorus district that Neal had suffered an injustice and that an endeavour should be made to have the law amended to prevent the repetition of such a case. It was stated at the meeting that Hebberd had been granted a verdict for more than he had lost, and a resolution was carried deploring the fact that one of the settlers of the Rai Valley should take action against a neighbour in a fire case, and that other neighbours should have given evidence for the plaintiff in such case. It was proposed that tho settlerß should subscribe to meet the amount of tho judgment, hut this was objected to on the grounds that it would be making payment to Hebberd. Several speakers urged Neal to go to gaol rather than pay. Neal confided to the meeting that he was not in a position to pay.