Judgment was reserved by the First Special District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 3, till. yesterday afternoon in the case against five men connected with the management of the Great China Celluloid Faclory in Ferry Road, who faced criminal charges 4 result of the disastrous fire in the factory on June 28 in which many lives were lost and many others injured.
All the defendants appeared in Court but, in answer to the 'Judge, they maintained that they. could "not tell whether the fire had started in their factory o the nelghbouring houses. Counsel for the. defence, summing up, asked for, his clients' acquittal on the ground that there was no evidence against them. Among other things, counsel for defence stated that an examination of the fence between the factory and the neighbouring houses after the 'June 28 fire revealed that the outer Side of the fence was charred, but not the inner side, indicating' that the fire had not started inside the factory. It was most probable, coun: set said, that the fire had been caused by cooking in the neighbouring houses, as at the time of the fire the} {factory had closed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.