INCENDIARY FIRES.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1020, 28 January 1879, Page 2

INCENDIARY FIRES.

£2,000 WORTH OP WHEAT AND HAY DESTROYED. Early on Saturday morning information roached Auckland of tho Avholesale and apparently wanton destruction of a number of hay stacks belonging to settlers between Papatoitoi and Otahuhu. From tho earliest particulars to hand, it appoara feat tho Bta'.'fcj of w!w«*l b?losg tv> U\ T-

Rodgers, of Otahuhu, valued at £1000. Mr Taylor's valuable stack of hay, and a, number of stacks belonging to Mr Pratt have been devoted to tho'ttatnos by tho haud of somj dastardly incendiary. Tho fires occurred betweou three and four o'clock on Saturday morning. Suspicion rested on a man named Fidgett, the same ■who was receutly acquitted at the Supreme Court Sittings on a charge of attempting to wreck a railway train between Ngaruawahia and Taupiri, by placing obstructions ou the line. It is alleged that the same morning a man, described a-< a big rough lookiug man, attired m an old coat, was seen prowling about m the neighbourhood, and the description was believed to tally with Fidgett 1 s appearance. Later m tho day, on Saturday, Fidgett, tho man acquitted for tho railway obstruction, was arrested by Detective Jeffrey for setting fire to the wheat stack, &c, valued at about £2,000, burnt between throe and fivo o'clock that morning. Tho 'Herald,' of yesterday, has tho following ou this affair : — The first blaze ■was evidently that on Mr Charles i\ Pratt's farm, at Mauurewa, beyond the Raglan Hotel, Papatoitoi, Great South Road. Mr McLennan, proprietor of the hotel, observed a flame at about 3 o clock m tho morning, but, as it was some distance off, aud he supposed it was only some scrub, he took no further notice of it. The first to call Mr Pratt's attention to the destruction of his property was Mr Barnside, who lives on the opposite side of the Great South Road, but at this time the two stacks of wheat, which, for convenienco, had been placed close to the road, had been burned to the ground, and only the smouldering debris remained. The value of these two stacks was £100, and Mr Pratt was totally uninsured. Mr Burnside only observsd tho fire at 4.30 a.m., when he got up to milk his cowb, and of course no trace of tho originator of the fire could bo seen m the viciaity. He appears to have continued his destructive course towards Otahuhu, and next directed his attention to Mr T. Rogers'.? oat aud hay-stacks, seven m nuinbor. These were the produce of about 100 acres, aud had been, for convenience of threshing, stackod close to tho roadside on Mr Mackay's farm. The estimated loss iv this instance is £1000. This fire is supposed to have commenced about 4 o'clock. The next fire was a haystack containing about 30 tons, and worth £100, the property of Mr Malcolm Taylor, of Otahuhu. The stack was on the farm, about half a mile from Otahuhu, -near the Scotch Church, and this must have been set fire to m broad daylight. Just before this five broke out, a man answering to the description of was seen m the vicinity of the Scotch < hurch, where he had a brief conversation with Mr Morrison, a blacksmith, from whom he begged a match, and then went away. About ten minutes afterwards, Mr Morrison saw the haystack m flunios. The stack was, of course, consumed, and the loss iv this instance is £100. There wa 1 * no insurants on any of the property destroyed. In addition to the facts already stated as beiug calculated to identify Fidgott with the incendiary work — such as his suspicious presence m the neighborhood when Mr Taylor's hay took fire, the following incidents have transpired. After his discharge from the -upreme Court trial for placing obstructions on tho railway, Fidgett state < that he went to Waikato, but he does not appear to have remained long there, because for the last fortnight ho has been m tho neighborhood of Otahuhu and Papatoitoi, and had applied to several farmers for employment, but without success, aud he recently made a singular threat to one of the settlers. It was to the effect that if he did not get work, he would not beg, "but would " burn the country side." Amongst I others to whom he applied for work was Mr Rogers, but ho did not obtain employment. Since his arrest, he has admitted > that lie slept on Friday night under a haystack, near Mr Rogers' place, a d shortly after the fire at Mr Taylor's he , was seen iv Otahuhu, where he told a man that ho had been walking all night, and ho came from the direction of the 1 fires. When he was arrested, he roundly abused Mr Rogers, but made no admia« sions regarding tho fires.