PRINCE'S WHARF CHUTES

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1928, Page 8

PRINCE'S WHARF CHUTES

QUESTION OF SAFETY.

ARE SIDES TOO LOW ?

EVIDENCE IN SUPREME COURT.

Expert evidence as to the safety of chutes on Prince's wharf was given at the Supreme Court this morning, when the case in which two waterside workers, Frederick Hoy and Robert Lee Bennett (Mr. P. J. O'Kegan and Mr. J. J. Sullivan) are proceeding against the Auckland Harbour Board (Mr. R. MeVeagli), each claiming £500 damages in respect to an accident that happened on the wharf on March 21, 1927, was continued. The case is being heard before Mr. Justice Blair and a jury of twelve. At the second of two previous trials, when the carrying and forwarding agency was cited as defendant in the action, part of the defence was that the defendants were being sued for the mistakes of the Harbour Board.

The facts in the present case were that the plaintiffs were injured as the result of a bale of blankets, weighing 901b, falling off a chute and striking them on the head and shoulders. The accident was alleged to be due to the dangerous and unsafe condition of the chute, the sides of which were too low.

The defence denied the charge, and submitted that, even were the chutes unsafe, the men were fully aware of the position, and voluntarily placed themselves in reach of danger. "The chute, to my mind, is imperfect for the service to which it is put," said the first witness called for the plaintiffs, George Fraser, an engineer of many years' standing. "The sides are too low for safety." Irregularities and defects in the surface of the chute, he said, made the course of goods sent down it erratic.

"In >my opinion the sides of the chute are too low for freight and general cargo handling. The proper thing to do would be to have the sides of the chute at least a foot higher," said Frederick E. Powell, another expert, and formerly an employee of the Harbour Board. "That would render it practically impossible for an accident of the kind under consideration to occur."

Following further condemnation of the facilities, Mr. McVeagh opened the case for the defence.

Henry B. Burnett, secretary and superintendent of the Auckland Harbour Board, said that during his term of office no previous complaints had been made concerning the height of the sides of the chutes, although the size of the equipment was questioned. The chutes on Prince's wharf had been in operation for two years up to the time of tlie accident. While the Harbour Board built the wharf and sheds, the employees of the shipping company or stevedoring firms accepted goods arriving at the port. The board did not receive or deliver cargo or handle it in any way.

(Proceeding.)