Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Annandale Past and Present 1839-1900

Chapter XVIII. — Bush Fires and Law

page 207

Chapter XVIII.
Bush Fires and Law.

The next two years were sadly troubled ones for the family, involving in their course struggle, loss, and finally heavy sorrow, when the household was suddenly, by a terrible accident, deprived of its beloved head. In telling this part of the family story, the writer has a keen sense of the difficulty of explaining matters truthfully, and at the same time without seeming prejudice, or other unworthy feeling. If we touch upon the subject at all, we must do so honestly, stating the facts of the case simply as they occurred. It has been our earnest endeavour all through these pages to avoid exaggerations, and here we recognise that, in relating the events of this time, we may lay ourselves open to the charge, for is not truth sometimes "stranger than fiction?" Yet we shall more likely err in under, rather than over-stating the facts; for having no written records of this trying time adds to our difficultly in gathering the details in their sequence. The elder members of the family, however, happily for the writer, have very distinct recollections of the troubles and calamities that succeeded each other thick and fast, leaving them well-nigh overwhelmed with grief and loss.

page 208

There had been some years of progress for the now eleven-years-old province—extension of commerce and enterprise, and the coming and going of ships to carry their products to foreign markets, as well as to bring necessary imports from the Old World. As shipping increased the more manifest became the want of direct land carriage to the places of production, for the export as well as import trades. The late Mr. W. S. Moorhouse (the same who accompanied Mr. Hay to Australia in the "Gratitude") is the man to whom New Zealand owes the conception of linking the plains of Canterbury to the outer world by means of a tunnel railway through the Port Hills. His proposals were at first regarded as visionary, but the result has amply justified his far-sightedness in almost forcing his scheme on an unbelieving public. Messrs. Holmes and Richardson were the contractors for carrying out the undertaking. They commenced work on both sides of the hill, thus working inwards until they met in the centre of the tunnel. The work so actively proceeding inspired confidence in the realisation of still greater hopes for the success of the province. Mr. Holmes had lately arrived from Melbourne and bought Mrs. Sinclair's property in Pigeon Bay, where he resided.

The Peninsula settlers naturally shared in the general success, and never had the prospects of our family seemed brighter than just before the gathering of the cloud that was soon to burst upon them. By this time James and Tom were taking a still more active interest in the work and management of the place, and their father was beginning to feel that there was a prospect of greater ease and comfort before him titan he had yet enjoyed. They each took their share of the book-keeping off his hands, James taking the stock book into his charge, and Tom the labour and "day-book," a general diary in which all the page 209
Hole in the Hill, Heathcote Valley

Hole in the Hill, Heathcote Valley

page 210work and events of each day were written down every evening.* Tom also kept the accounts, and was beginning to write the business letters, while James had begun to take business trips, and was getting initiated into the buying and selling of stock. William, after having had the advantage of a year or two of Mr. Fitzgerald's tuition, had been sent to Christchurch and placed in a merchant's office Mr. J. D McPherson's which was of benefit to him as a business training. The younger members of the family were making good progress at the Pigeon Bay "Academy."

In explanation of how the "cloud no bigger than a mans hand" appeared on their horizon, we can only state that it was the practice among settlers on the Peninsula to burn heaps of rubbish, fern, or scrub on the hills, by way of making some attempt at clearing the land, before the greater work of bush-felling was entered upon. For years this had been done, and never before had it resulted in trouble between neighbours. It was therefore with no thought of consequences that James, early one morning, on his way to bring the cows from Totara Gully, set fire to a dry bunch of fern. So early was it that two sawyers then working for Mr. Hay, and camped near Totara Bridge, were still sound asleep when James looked in upon them on his homeward way. Three weeks followed of perfectly calm autumn weather, before the fire reached the top of the hill; all this time it smouldered, unnoticed among many similar fires. It only required a stiff breeze to wake them all to life, and when at length that condition was fulfilled the Peninsula hills presented a magnificent appearance, with their bold heights clothed in flames. Never before in the memory of man had their rocky summits been so page 211illuminated. Fire flashed from all points with ever-changing radiance, suggesting cities and citadels holding high revelry, their gleaming towers and turrets ablaze with brilliance, which made the nights glorious. The vast conflagrations of that dry autumn season were long remembered, and every one knew they had not one, but many beginnings.

It was with considerable astonishment, therefore, that Mr. Hay received a writ served by Mr. Holmes for £3000, for damages done to his bush by Mr Hay's fire. That such a claim should have been made in view of the fact that the hills were all aflame with scores of other fires, was the hardship, and Mr. Hay took immediate legal advice for entering a defence against this, to him, monstrous demand. The first time the case came on, it was found requisite to adjourn it for three months on account of some legal technicality having been overlooked. Again they were all in waiting for the hearing, witnesses and all parties concerned being in town, when, the night before the case was to be heard, the daughter of Mr. T. S. Duncan, Mr. Hay's solicitor, died, and again the case had to be postponed. In consequence of these delays, there were almost nine months of suspense to be borne, during which time Mr. Holmes had reached the height of his popularity in Christchurch, owing to the public work he was engaged in—viz., the tunnel railway—and to that cause we may possibly attribute the extraordinary verdict of the jury. The case went wholly against Mr. Hay, and the full amount claimed for damages was awarded, an utterly unaccountable procedure in the light of after events. There was no lack of evidence on defendant's side; indeed Mr. Hay's solicitor, Mr. T. S. Duncan, was so sure of a favourable verdict, that he would not take the trouble (as Mr. Hay much wished) to have the land surveyed, to trace the course of the Totara Gully fire, deeming it quite unnecessary.

page 212

The chief witnesses on Mr. Hay's side were two men who had contracts for the forming of the Purau line of road; these men, each with a gang of road labourers under him, were employed for many months on this road before and after the fires began. Their evidence was that fires sprang up and spread from so many points all around, that they attested to the impossibility of swearing to any one fire in particular as being responsible for the burning of Mr. Holmes* bush; that they distinctly saw the bush on fire at various points, in fact surrounded with fire; and from their high vantage ground and constant presence on the roads under their charge, they had every opportunity of accurately judging. They were, moreover, respectable men, and independent witnesses, who had no interest on one side more than another, giving only the unprejudiced evidence of their eyesight. Vet they were discredited, while others, actuated apparently by prejudice or self-interest, certainly not by positive knowledge, were believed. We state this advisedly, as the chief witness on Mr. Holmes' side was one of the two men whom James looked in upon asleep in their whare that morning as he returned with the cows after lighting the fern-bush. This man was at the time of the fire case working for Mr. Holmes, and swore to seeing James light the fire. To use his own expression, it (the fire) flew up the hill faster than a horse could gallop," on route to Holmes' forest, while he stood and watched it! This flagrant untruth ought to have rendered the evidence of this witness valueless, but instead he was one of the plaintiff's most telling witnesses. Besides, there had been no idea of denying or hiding the act, it was done openly and avowed frankly; moreover, it was patent to everyone that the fire had slumbered unnoticed (if not expired) for three weeks before the wind arose and fanned every faint spark into active flame.

page 213

Mr. Hay made an effort to have a re-hearing of the case, but this appeal was refused by the Court, on what grounds we cannot now recall. It was a crushing blow, for the amount was swelled by the adjournments and consequent expenses, all of which were laid on Mr. Hay, augmenting the final amount to £5000. It would have been still more, but for the fact of Mr. Holmes circumventing himself through a hasty error. He sent the bailiffs into Annandale two or three days after the case was decided, a tiling he had no legal right to have done, and which was, moreover, an insult added to an injury. For this action he had to forfeit his own proportion of the law expenses. A much over-estimated valuation had been made, and was put forward in evidence, as to the total destruction and deteriorating effect of the fire on the bush for timber purposes, the amount claimed being based on this. It is a noteworthy fact that, years after this date, the gentleman who made this valuation confessed his sorrow at the circumstance to Hay Brothers.

As an actual fact, the fire did a great amount of good to Mr. Holmes' estate in clearing it of the undergrowth and rubbish, rendering the work of felling and haulage of the timber to the saw-mills comparatively easy. The standing trees were not destroyed, but were simply ready to be cut up for timber, it being no detriment, but a positive advantage, to have the foliage burnt away, as every bushman knows. Mr. Holmes himself admitted afterwards that the fire had done him "more good than harm," and it was well known that he was as much surprised as most people at the success of his law-suit. It meant all but ruin to Mr. Hay; yet he faced the trouble with his usual brave spirit, and promptly paid the money.

Immediately after this decision, and induced by it Marshall brothers, another Bay family, resolved to try page 214their luck too, and sued Mr. Hay to the extent of £1,100, for damage to their property from the same fire. Certainly there was no more justice in their claim than in that of Holmes', but that gave no security against its recognition by law, equally with the other. There were no fresh witnesses called, nor further evidence given, for the same witnesses were subpæned as in the former case; and yet at this trial the verdict was given for the defendant. Such are the vagaries of the law! There was one difference however, and only one, between the two cases; but that was a radical difference, and meant more than meets the eye; there was another jury headed by another foreman. This last case only confirmed Hay brothers in their opinion—that the first case was to all intents and purposes decided before it was heard, the verdict being a foregone conclusion. This seems a hard saying, but it is the truth of the matter. There were others ready to come on, if Marshall had won their case, with claims of equal validity—Grubb and Allen, Somerville, etc, who had each sections somewhere on Pigeon Bay hills. The verdict in Marshall's case, however, quenched the ardour of the rest: but we can readily understand the effect of this accumulation of worry on Mr. Hay's mind.

We have come now to the saddest part of this dreary time of frustration and calamity, for these troubles were but the fore-runners of a yet greater one, as they were undoubtedly the indirect cause. We allude to Mr. Hay's tragic death, which happened before the hearing of Marshall's case, and which we shall describe in our next chapter.

* Those diaries would have been invaluable aids to us in compiling these records of past years, but, alas! all were lost in the landslip of 1886, when the old homestead was swept away.