COLLAPSE OF WALL

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 116, 14 February 1928, Page 10

COLLAPSE OF WALL

TWO MEN KILLED INQUEST ON VICTIMS Dominion Special Service. Christchurch, February 13. How two mep. were killed and a third was severely injured when a Frick wall of a drying kiln collapsed in the yards of C. E. Otley, Ltd., timber merchants, Madras Street, "was revealed at the inquest which was resumed before the Coroner (Mr. E. D. Mosley) this afternoon. The victims were Charles William Nixon, married, aged fifty-six. years, and George William Clark, married, aged sixty vears. ■ Dr. W. H. Sheffield said that he found Nixon had suffered a fractured skull, this in witness’s opinion having been the cause of death. He said that Clark’s injuries included a crushed chest wall which had caused death, C. E. Otley, managing director of C. E. Otley, Ltd., said that the men had been working on an extension to the drying kite, a brick and concrete structure adjoining a wooden building which supported it on the north side. He had seen four men working in the kiln .early in the morning, but' had observed nothing about the building or its foundation to suggest danger. For four days the men had been working in the kiln under the guidance of Clark, who was foreman of the job. ' “He was a very competent foreman,” witnessed declared, “Neither he nor anyone elsg reported to me that the building was dangerous in any‘way.” Clark, he said, had started to work for him °n January . 4, and what witness knew of hi? ability was from reputatiop.

Describing the kiln, witness said that it was supported on the north and south sides by brick walls, and at the time of the crash the foundation? were being extended to east and west. The work entailed storing up the north wall. No work was being done on the south wall, which was a part of the building standing on its own foundation. The stays on the north side reached to a height of 8 feet 6 inches. The building was 14 years old. The roof was of reinforced concrete. Witness could not say whether or not the roof was examined before the work, commenced. That was the task of the foreman. There was nothing to stow that the roof, which was of reinforced concrete, was not properly secure. The tops of the north and south walls came olf with the retif and so an examination after the accident revealed nothing. The roof was six inches thick. Charles Lorrett, a labourer, stated that he.heard Johannsen, who was injured jn the crash, say that the thing did not look too safe. Referring to the roof, witness was within a few feet of the kiln door when the collapse occurred. AH orders regarding the work were taken from the foreman, Clark. When Johannsen had made his remark about the roof the previous day, Clark had said it would not fall as it was of reinforced concrete. Alfred Johannsen, a labourer, said that wheit- he looked up and saw the roof falling he put up his arm and fell to the floor, after which he could remember nothing more. Two or three days before the accident, said witness, he climbed the ladder to the roof and asked Clark if it was quite safe. Clark assured him that it was, and he uient back to his work again. He could not tell whether the walls or the roof fell in first- . The inquest was adjourned till tomorrow.