ARSON ALLEGED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 22, 18 September 1931, Page 3

ARSON ALLEGED

Press Association-

-"Post" Special Service.

GISBORNE FIRE DESTRUCTION OF GARRISON HALL LAST JANUARY INVESTIGATED SOME STARTLING EVIDENCE

— Conyright.

By Telephone-

GISBORNE, Thursday. An inquest .into the circumstances of a fire which destroyed the Garrison Hal\ on January 20, was opened before the District Coronet', Mr. P. A. Harper, to-day. In the blaze arms, ammunition, and equipment belonging to the Defence Department, also fittings of a miniature golf course, were destroyed. In opening the proceedings Detective McLeod stated that evidence would be given to show that offers of money had been made for the purpose of having the hall burned down. and that two men did carry out its destruction. « The inquiry is likely to last two days, a large number of witnesses having been subpoenaed. Evidence was given that the. hall was leased from the Defence Department, one of the conditions being that the hall and eontents were to be insured by the lessee, which was done for £6850 in the Yorkshire Ofiice. In November the hall was sublet to R. J. Kerridge. Robert James Kerridge, company manager said his company conducted a miniature golf course in the hall. On January 20 he was absent from Gisborne and returned about a week later. The company's loss in the fire was substantial. There was a policy with the Sun Insurance Company for £300 over the company's propea'ty. After the fi^ei, witness advertised offering a reward of £100 for information that would assist in clearing up the cause of the fire. About a week later, he was approached by a man named Higgs who said that he knew who was responsible for the fire. He said he did not know their names, but knew: their whereabouts, and suggested that he be given sufficient to cover his travelling expenses in locating them. He said he thought he could obtaip a statement from them. Witness did not accede to the request. Two Showmen Yesterday Higgs called at witness's ofiice and asked whether witness had handed to the police the information that had been given. Witness told him he had ,and Higgs said he was sorry.to be involved in it, and did not want it to appear that he had approached witness. In the first conyersation he said that two showmen had committed the offence at the instigation of a third party. He said that the two men were sideshowmen at the Wairoa Carnival and that he had requested the men to give him a lift to Wairoa on the evening of the fire and they told him they had a job to do that evening and would not be returning to Wairoa till very late. Higgs said he had seen these two men in conversation with a third party outside the latter's shop. To Mr. Wauchop: Witness named a man, saying he was the third party mentioned by Higgs. .There was no feeling whatever between witness and this man. Before the fire witness had discussed midget golf links with him, when he intimated his intention of entering into competition with witness' company. Witness had attempted to dissuade him from doing so. Higgs' suggestion to witness was that this man had commissioned the i two men to burn the place down. He had not put it into words but had inferred that the men had told him that. Thomas Percival Vosper, caretaker at the hall, on the night of the fire said that prior to locking up he noticed two strange men at the back portion of the stage, and they asked him if they could get out that way. After he had spoken to the two men he saw the back door was locked and put out the light. Later, when he went round finally to loek up, he saw the door was open and the light on again. An apprentice gave evidence of finding a tin eontaining benzine and oil on the day after the fire. Story of Car Ride James Robert William Elsbury, barrister and solicitor, of Auckland, stated that on April 21 he was in the private bar of a hotel with a

man named Manson, who introduced him to a man named McKenzie. McKenzie told him he was in the employ of Newton King, Ltd., New Plymouth. During the conversation, the ctuestion of miniature. golf arose and

witness remarlced that the only one that was in operation at that time belonged to Kerridge in Gisborne. McKenzie said the. Garrison Hall had been burned down, and the fire was suspicious. Witness remarked that a reward of £100 had been offered for information leading to the conviction of the person, who had done it. McKenzie said: "I know the man who did it. That £100 would be very sweet to me at present. I have a good mind to put their pot on. The cows owe me £30." McKenzie told witness that on December 23 he had. driven in his car with a man to a place out of Gisborne. While at hotel there this man received a telephone message and told McKenzie he was wanted in Gisborne and asked McKenzie to drive him there, which McKenzie agreed to do. He visited a place in town and when the man came out of this place he told McKenzie he had been offered £20 to burn the Garrison Hall down. At this juncture the name of the man his passenger met there was not mentioned, but it was mentioned later. The man told McKenzie he would not accept £20 to do the job. Offer of Money McKenzie said he was present at the Ferry Hotel at Wairoa on January 19, where he again met the same man with another man. He said that they had been offered £60 to burn down the hall and they were g'oing to do it that night. They asked him to drive them to Gisborne and offered him £20 for doing so. McKenzie told witness he had refused and that the men had said they would get someone else to drive them, which they did. McKenzie said these men returned to Wairoa at 4.30 next morning. He saw them and they told him they had done the. job. They had partly filled a motor tube with benzine and attaehed a fuse and placed

in -under the rear of the Garrison Hall, lit the fuse and left. They later returned when the place was in flames and then returned to Wairoa. That was the full statement McKenzie gave him of what had occurred and added: "If my brother-in-law in Hamilton would like to open' his mouth he could verify this." McKenzie's statement at the commencement was more or less volunteered, but witness drew him out a bit. Witness knew Kerridge, as he had helped to design the course. McKenzie's Story Russell A. McKenzie, salesman, of Auckland, said that in December last he was' travelling for Amalgamated Distributors Ltd. in company with his brother-in-law. He was in Gisborne and stayed at a boardinghouse. Witness became acquainted with a man with whom he frequented a billiard saloon in Gisborne. On December 23 witness and Winter, his brother-in-law and this man went to Ruatoria whdre they stayed at a hotel for a few days. On the last evening witness received a message from Gisborne telling the man to ring Gisborne, the place rung being the billiard saloorj. Witness deliverad the message to the man, who later said he was wanted in Gisborne, adding that there was £20 waiting for him in Gisborne if he liked to go down. That was on December 23. They drove back to Gisborne arriving soon after dark and pulled up outside the billiard saloon. The man went inside and spoke to someone, but witness did not know what was said. He then came hack to the car and said: "I have been offered £20 if , I will burn the Garrison Hall down." He' said that he would have nothing to do with it for £200, or £2000. Witness told him he would certainly be. a fool to have anything to do with it. Witness left for Hamilton that night, arriving next day and had not been to Gisborne since. The inquiry was then adjourned until to-morrow.