"ACT OF GOD."

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 134, 3 December 1936, Page 11

"ACT OF GOD."

CORONER'S FINDING

PIPE BRIDGE FATALITY

NO NEED TO TIE ON

After, hearing the. evidence. .of v.'itiiesses of the fatality on' the Bfntt " ~Pipe= Bridge 'on Monday morning when Robert KennedyRitchie was killed by a heavycase r which fell -or' was blown Sr6m a '-; motor-lorry'which "crossed' the-' bridge in the height of the gale; •= the Coroner, Mr. E. Gilbertson, found,that .the accident had, been due to'an 'act pfiGcd. "! There had been, in his opinion, no need to tie the cases on the lorry. Senior-Sergeant' <H." D. Wade', conducted the inquiry. Mr. O. C. Mazengarb appeared for the owners of the lorry,." Messrs.-.B : arton:.Ginger-and Co., Ltd., and'the driver of the lorry, C. B. Trilford. Mrs. Margaret Ritchie, widow of the deceased,, said her husband. was 41 years. of .age and in a. good, state of health. ..,'He, was,not deaf... Dr.; .Roger Bakewell said that the cause; of deajh was a compound fracr ture;.Of the.skull. ~ . : . Colin Robert Watson, a clerk,, said that he rode his motor-cycle; along the Esplanade,; through Jessie Street, and along - Jackson Street ;b,ehind a lorry. which had .two. motor-cases on .it, stacked one .on-top.-of,the.;other... . The cases were loaded .slightly .more to the left 'side of the: lorry than the right. Knowing "the strength of the wind he watched the lorry as it crossed the pipe bridge)"to-;see what, effect, the wind had -upon Va6 cases.: He saw the' cases topple off. Examined by Mr. Mazengarb, tlie^vitness said that the cases would be about three inches out of dead centre on the lorry. ■ He believed they were flush- "wjth one. another both at the back and sides, and were stacked with thfe .flat .sife down; that-.ls, ,they ; were not'standing.on end. Robert Vivian Sunley, a clerk a.; the'Ford'iVlbtor Works, stated' that he Was a ■passenger in'a car which followed the lorry over the bridge. The cases fell on the head and shoulders ol a man who was on the footpath of the briclge. The surface of the bridge was rough. He did not see any ropes qnftie. cases. ..; . . ; . ' .' . .'. BOTH GASES BLOWN OFF. The cases would weigh about 19001b and both were blown off..-. The wind was'-terrific, but it seemed steady; he would not say it was-gusty, ."^vas the strongest.wind he had felt in Wellington. He had seen- similar loads roped on to the lorry. Pressed by Mr. .Mazengarb, witness said he; could nof give the names of. any carriers who had roped similar loads. . He. had seen a similar load roped yesterday, that was, since' the accident, but be did not remember if he had seen them previously. - Lance Bernard Pay.,- . employed. at Ford Motors, said that he was driving the car in which the previous witness was a passenger. When tha lorry with the cases started down the incline on the east'end of the bridge his com-panion-drew/his attention to the falling cases; one of^whichiellon a man on-tne. footway. The wind wasi blowing "with' gale- force and was. one_oi the heaviest he had cx Penen^ d:/^ wind was much stronger -on. the bridge tLh on theroad. ~:lt.was,a gusty wmd. and swerved the -light car lie, was. drrv ? -. mi to the lefVseveral times.^,, ~. f During the passage over the bridge the cases rocked slighQy-they. answered to the wind. He thought that the wind and'the bump. in. going!^ V* incline of the' br,idge-was the ■of the cases falUng. could not say one way4 or the. other - whether, he. had evlrVen similar loads 'tfed. on. Sidney James Jones, a motor driver, said that-he was walking over the bridge when the accident happened A sudden gust of wind caught the Llsanl blew them off... It was an exceptional wind and the gust that StteK* cases was, he thought, traveling at 90 m.p.b. The lorry was tr&velfint ft a very' moderate speeaV-The bridge' was dangerous in -a-very-high wiM. He wai doubtful If. with*-a' knowledge of the velocity of the wind he'would have taken the lorry over with.'the cases, one on top of the other without tying'the load. ■' " ■ DRIVER'S EVIDENCE. Cecil Bayden Trilford, the driver of the lorry* owned by • Messrs. Barton, Ginger and Co., said that at 3 a.m. he .loaded, .the cases* at the, Pipitea Wharf.' They weighed about one tori: each and it was-not-his practice totie such heavy loads. He drove over the bridge at 10 m.p.h. about 2ft 6m from the footpath. His' attention was directed to- the road, and he did not see-deceased on the-footpath... .There was" nothing exceptional /about the. wind'on:-the, joad out- from Welling' ton-and' he did-not -worry about-the-wind on the--bridge, -It : - must .have been, a sudden gust which-blew the cases off but he-did riot notice it.

About 80 or 90 similar loads had been,,*taken: out -during r the; past few week's'and hone was tied. He had no knowledge of tying such heavy loads either,,in«New, Zealand, or. .Australia where'he had'had driving experience. A lorry similarly loaded had preceded him over the bridge, about 15 minutes.,earlier. In -his' opinion had the.cases been tied on, the lorry and the cas|s would have gone-pver the side'of "'the'bridge. The height and weight of the load co'nformed'to the regulations, which said nothing about tying on loads. " ■ ! " . ' ■■ ■■ The surface of 'the bridge was not dangerously rough''and he would "not say the "bridge was "dangerous for a heavy lorry to high winds. ■ ' In reply to Senior-Sergeant "Wade, -the witness said'that he would not go over the bridge again under'the' same conditions, but he considered the question unfair. . ■•■•*••■ ~ , ,-.- ,■

The cases measured 10ft 6in by 4ft llin by 4ft 10in, .so that the exposed surface was about 55 square feet.

Constable J. L. Moote gave evidence of removing the "body of deceased. The weight marked on one of. the cases was 19181b.- The cases were lying, 14 feet apart on the bridge and apparently had fallen one after the other.

The Coroner said it was quite evident that there was an exceptionally heavy wind' "and, speaking from his knowledge as an engineer, he would say that a wind blowing at 75 m.p.h; on 55 square feet of surface would be sufficient to shift the cases. ' ■" •

There was no evidence of want of care on the ■ part of the driver either in'his driving or loading-of the cases. It was purely an act of God.

He was "not satisfied there 'was any necessity for tying era the load. There was no. evidence of.:carelessness, and na blame could be placed on the driver. The finding was that deceased died on December 1, 1936, on the Pipe Bridge,.-Lower Hutt, as-, the result of a heavy case falling off a lorry and crashing him. - ■

•McKehnaV will sell by public auction' tomorrow at 2 'p.m./. at their rob'ms, 18' Molesworth Street, a mis-. cellaneous. catalogue of furniture arid sundries,

For his fourth offence trf drunkenness.within six months, Patrick Thomas' Kavanagh; a miner, aged 60, was fined £2, in default- 14 days'-imprisonment,-by Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the