FALL FROM A SCAFFOLD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 551, 5 July 1909, Page 6

FALL FROM A SCAFFOLD.

•INSTANTANEOUS DEATH,

The district Dr. M'Artbur, S.M., cond-ncted an. inquest at the Morgno on Saturday morning, .'on the body of .'William Loveday (about; fJO years), who was killed on tbe previous day in a fall .from the scaffolding ; ujxjti . whfcli-, He was . working. Lovcday, had only resumed work / for a. few minutes on Friday afternoon, on the topstoryof Messrs.. A,. D. Kennedy and Co.'s new.'buildings, in Featherston Street,, when. he .fell -to the pavement—62 feet below.. Medical examination was made as promptly as: possible; but,. so severe'and . extenpive were tne injuries, that death ensued before the ambulance arrived.' Deceased had no relatives in the Dominion. Mr;;Menteatb/appeared for>the employers, Messrs. R., A.. Wakelin and Son, and Mr. Bolland represented the Labour Department. Sergeant Kelly acted'for the police, and Mr. G. R. Rogers,was foreman of . the jury. . Wm. Walter .Jieavis, a plasterer, deposed that he spoke a few words: to the deceased as the latter returned to work on Friday afternoon. ; Witness heard a cry when, tho accident :ha.ppened, and deceased was 'unconscious when he. aijived. The.doctor examined' the injuries, and in a few minutes pronounced him dead. Deceased was a stone-carver and cementmodeller,.ahd he was a.sober and industrious worker. . "To Mr. Bolland i He was sure that, deceased was sober- at the time of his fall. ; James M'lntosh Muir, salesman for Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Co., -stated 'that Mr. Charles Nathan and hp were proceeding to lunch along Featherston Street, when' they heard a man cry out. He thought that part of tie scaffolding, of the building, might be oomingj down, and had just got clear of the building,Vwhen deceased : struck the pavement; Dr. Gihnor said that, 'when ho arrived, deceased was lying- on the pavement, practically dead. The post-mortem examination had revealed fractures iof the- spine, thigh, ankle, five ribs over the heart, pelvis,'.aSd o, compound fracture of the right elbow. There was. also a lacerated wound on the forehead, and severe 1 internal injuries. ■;' Death; had resulted from these, injuries and from shock. Henry Hill, foreman plasterer on the building, stated that the deceased had been working on a perfectly safe scaffolding, about 65 T fefftJrom the, ground., .Witness, had been on the scaffolding, which was fonr or five planks wide, and- he would have had no hesitation in working- there. The building : comprised four stories and a,basement. Deceased was doing ; the work by contract, and waa modelling the eagles on the job because this method >was cheaper. Witness considered that deceased had slipped from the Norwich Union building, to : whioh he had probably moved in order to do his work more easily, V George Leopard Wakelin, junior member, of the firm of Messrs. R. A.. Wakelin amd Son, produced- the tender which; the. firm had accepted from deceased: It was for the modelling of three eagles, and tho price waa ■ £30. •. . - . ... The jury's verdict waa that 'death was due to a pure accident, no blamo being attachable to anyone. . The- opinion, was also expressed that the scaffolding was quite safe. '