MIRAMAR ACCIDENT
Maoriland Worker, Rōrahi 10, Putanga 427, 14 Haratua 1919, Page 5
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MIRAMAR ACCIDENT
Alleged Defective Crane
The double fatality at the Miramar works of the Gas Company formed tho subject of an inquest by- Mr. F. V.' Fraser. S.M., on £.pril 28. The inquiry* was conducted on beljal| of* the police hy Sergeant Wade. JJr. T. Neave appeared, fop the Wellington Gas Company; Mr.Q. W. Trin*_jij£im for Mrs. i?%rel, widow of John Ferrel, one of the deceased; and Mr, P. J- O'Reyan for the relatives of Joseph Churchill, the other deceased, as well as for Thomas who was injured, j A DEFECTIVE GUY-STAY. j During the hearmif, Albert £aker j gave evidence that th- deceased j Churchill -•* _s 30 years of age and a I man. He had relatives in the! Oi*Y Century, Witness did not see tjie accideat. but afterwards caw Mann lying down ia the yard and. Churchill on a stretcher. One of the supports of the guy*? of the. jib was constructed' cf' old timber, aad this j SV'<- ■'--■■ T- s v_p.c. was I'otten, and a bolt attune risht throufh- The crane was a new one, and all the timber. was new except this one guy-stay.. The guy giving way apparently caus- j ed too much weigh l ", to be placed en the engine-house, which overbalanced. Con-table Tarrant, who had visited tlie gasworks soon after the accident.] said he noticed that the wood attached to one of the guys had perished, and the guy hac. broken away from it. Churchell's chest was torn open, and his neck and night arm were broken. Perrel had a severe bruise on the right jaw. He, apparently, had been killed by concussion. Mr. Neave said he wished to call Mr. Dougall, the Gas Company's engineer, to give evidence as to the manner in which every part of the crane had been tested. Of course there appeared to be a latent defect in one of the guy supports. The Coroner: I suppose it was not apparent before the accident. 'Mr. ORegan suggested th'sit in viewof subsequent civil proceedings, he would like the damaged parts "of the crane to be preserved for the present. Mr. Neave gave an undertaking that this would be done. - The Coroner he-re remarked that there was an admission of the rotten-j ness of the timber, and it would be hardly worth while his visiting the; gasworks. THE GAS WORKS ENGINEER EXAMINED. Archibald Dougall, engineer of the Gas Company, stated that 'Ferrel had been in the employ of the company for some time. He had considerable ex| perience with regard to cranes. The I crane was purchased from Wilson and | Co. as being in proper working ori der and its erection was started at I the gasworks a month or six weeks I ago. The. boiler was inspected and i Ferrel helped to erect the crane. He I inspected it in its dismantled condition. They discussed matters and decided that the jib and one stay were rotten and should be replaced. The jib was about 60ft. long. The old stay that was used deceased pronounced to be absolutely sound. Witness did not rely on deceased's opin| ion and inspected it himself. So far as he could see, there was no defect lin the stay. He hammered the timber from one end to the other with an iron bar and it sounded all right. A carpenter had also it with a hammer and he tested the'timber in a number of places with a chisel.
To Mr. O'Regan: It was now clear that the wood in the neighborhood of the ironwork was not sound. Witness had no idea how long the wood had been in use. It was painted, but the wood was tested under the paint.
""Mr. O'Regan.- Paint will cover up a multitude of -inc.
The inquiry was adjourned.
