"A DEATHTRAP."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 114, 17 May 1927, Page 9

"A DEATHTRAP."

NAPIER 1 BOARDINGHOUSE.

to TIRE ESCAPE PROVIDED. TWO MEN BURNT TO DEATH. COMMENT BY CORONER. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) 'NAPIER, this day. Tbs inquest into the. deaths of two (MB "in the Shakespeare boardinghouse fin, was finished yesterday, before Mr. R. W. Dyer, SJVL, coroner. The men were John Webber, aged 59, waterside worker, and William Robi•08, aged 30, ex-purser in the mercantile ■arise. Robert Bruce, who ;' conducted the boardinghouse in conjunction with his Wife, said they had thirteen boarders on night of the fire. He was sleeping downstairs, and noticed the fire about four tfclock. He rushed upstair# to warn • girl who - was working for "them. Webber's room was upstairs, facing the ■tttet, and Robison's was upstairs at ths back, facing the verandah, l'here wtre no fire escapes, except a ladder , to the back verandah, "which was not a fixture

John Pearce Smith, owner of the | builditg, said that the only means of WCape was the ladder at the rear. I'he hou* r.waa partly burnt down four years Ago. ;He did not know what the inner partitions were made of. He told the architect to use non inflammable material. He took no steps to see that file egeapea were provided. He was told tbatil&e boarding used in the interior non-inflammable. Architect's Evidence. J James A. Louis fclay, the architect who prepared the plans for the board inghouße -four years ago, stated wat no provisions were made for fire tKajjes oh the plans. He mentioned the "atter to Smith, and told him the city Wrthorities would ask him to put them jS He said he would do so when he Was . asked. The house was rebuilt Wund part of the old chimney. The Partitions of the upstairs rooms were ®» a composition Of wood pulp, put ' n WT economical reasons. The specifica•wßs werei deposited .with the Napier®orough Council and approved. Witness ■Jd not been instructed by Smith to put ® non-inflammable material. 1 "A Serious Thing." I'"The finding will be the same in the each of the deceased," said the " that they were burnt to death >B the.destruction by fire of thfc Shakes£j*re Boardinghouse in the early hours 2 May 2. I think the inquest has been fW and complete."

"It seems to me a serious thing indeed that in the construction of a house like that no provision was made for fire escapes beyond a ladder at the back, which, from ,the evidence, was apparently no good as a means of escape. Thus the staircase or the windows were the only means of escape. , The thing was a veritable deathtrap. The architect says he drew the owner's attention to the lack of fire escapes, and the owner said he would provide it when asked. Apparently he was never called upon. " Had there been fire escapes, so far as we can see, these two unfortunate men would not have lost their lives. It is a serious matter, and one that requires inftnediate attention."