PIHA CASE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 May 1939, Page 6

PIHA CASE

SUPREME COURT HEARING " !■ THE FIRE IN THE BACH. WITNESS WHO SMELT KEROSENE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, This Day. The first witness in the Piha case today, John Oxspring, storekeeper, said he notice no lights in the bach when he saw it at about 8.45 on February 11. On the Tuesday after the fire he found five pieces of bone and a padlock in the debris, near where the human remains were found. Mr J. Terry: “You don’t suggest that there was not a light turned low in the house when you saw it?” Witness: “No, I didn’t see a light, (hat’s all.” Andrew Littlejohn Sutton said he noticed a strong smell of kerosene when about sixty yards from the burning house. Mr V. R. Meredith: “When you smelt the kerosene as you came along the road where was the fire?” Witness: “In the bedroom above the garage.” 3 Mr W. Noble: “Do you know if you are the only person who smelt kerosene?” Witness: “No, other persons smelt it.” Mr Noble: “Why did you say you smelt kerosene?”—“Because I did smell it.” Mr Noble: “You didn’t smell it very long did you.”—“No.” Mr Noble: “Did you know there were kerosene lamps in the house?”—“No.” (Earlier proceedings are reported on Page 2.)