Ballantyne’s Fire- No General Evacuation Order Issued

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 February 1948, Page 2

Ballantyne’s FireNo General Evacuation Order Issued

(P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, February 6. The main witness today at the sitting of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the lire at Ballantyne’s premises on November 18 when 41 employees died was Mr Kenneth Ballantyne, joint managing director, with Mr Ron Ballantyne, of the firm. Evidence was given by Mr Ballantyne that no general order to evacpgte the premises was issued by him. He said the credit room girls, after they had found their way down by the tailoring department staircase blocked by smoke, were in the accountancy office.- He then realised that the smoke was impenetrable and that the only way of escape was by the windows.

He described the , failure of his efforts to attract the attention of passers-by in Cashel street. He told of trying to take a girl, who “slid from my grasp,” to the windows. In cross examination, Mr Ballantyne said he knew some inflammable materials were in the basement. He added that naphthalene was the only one which would call for any serious consideration.

In reply to Mr G. G. Watson (for the Crown), Ballantyne said it was incorrect that as Miss Kennedy and Mrs Nash said yesterday he and the assistant secretary, Hudson, were in the credit room for five or seven minutes before telling the staff to get out.

“Got Separated” Mr Watson: You have been induced to say that you left Hudson. Do you mean that you left Hudson, or that you got parted, and separated in the smoke and dark-? Witness: I left him on two occasions.

I am referring to the time when you last saw him before going to the window. —I was making my way to the Colombo street windows. If you mean I deserted him. That is the inference! No, Sir. There was no sense of desertion about it.

You got separated? —Yes. Asked what time elapsed from the time that he heard Boon telephoning for the brigade until he tried to telephone himself, Ballantyne said that it would be roughly three minutes. From the time he failed to get out on the telephone at the enquiry counter to the time that he arrived upstairs in .the credit room would be not very much more than one minute. The chairman: How was it that you did not see Miss Hamilton. "We have heard she was there? Witness: I did not see Miss HamiL ton in the credit office. I did not expect to see her there. Saw ’Phone Cail Made

Ballantyne said that he saw Boon make a telephone call for the brigade. He allowed sufficient time after the call for the brigade to come, before he went into the inquiry desk to put his call through. Asked by Mr B. A. Barrer (for the Clothing Trades Union j what Mr Hudson was doing when he (Ballantyne) came into the credit office, Ballantyne said that he was supervising the gettings of records into the strong-room. Did he appear to be at all peiturbed? —No. Did it, the putting away of the records, not strike you as a foolish action? —I knew of smoke at that stage, not fire. Did you give the accountancy stall instructions to get out?. —If I had not been interrupted by the credit room girls returning, the accountancy staff would have had by complete instructions also. I investigated the passage myself then. To Mr Hutchison (representing the Fire Board) Ballantyne said that it would be fair to say that Hudson had not formed a very serious view of the fire when he first saw him. Mr W. R. Lascelles (for the City Council): You knew that the location of the fire was in Congreve’s cellar? Witness: Yes.

Did you think it desirable that you should fight the fire until the brigade came? —There was no fire to fight. What was in the cellar?—Smoke only, it was reported to me. Did you not think it desirable to

I fight the smoke until the brigade came. —Stringer informed me that he was unable to get to the seat of it in his efforts with a fire extinguisher. You gave no general instructions to go round the building and put people in a state of readiness to quit? —Correct. Nor did you, at. any time, order the evacuation of the premises? —No. How long did the period of inaction awaiting the arrival of the brigade last?—lt can only be an estimate. It is an anxious moment: The brigade has been called, and does not arrive. What seems like ten minutes may have been only two or three. Way Of Escape Ballantyne said that the attitude of the girls in the credit office was such that they would have immediately obeyed an order to quit if they had seen what he had seen when he opened the fire escape door. Mr Lascelles: What sort of an order was given? Witness: Down the tailoring stairs.

Is it not a fact that no general attempt to evacuate the credit office was made until hope was nearly gone ?_l don't agree with that statement. When that order was given, what way of escape remained? —The way I had come. “I met a fireman standing at the back of the engine, and I told him that the girls were trapped upstairs,” said Ngaire Phyllis Biggart, a member of the art department of Ballantyne’s who was instructed by the head of her department to tell the Fire Brigade that girls were trapped in the millinery department. “I could see girls on the third floor, and I pointed them out to him. I could hear them calling for help. I can’t remember what the fireman said, or did.” < To Mr N. H. Buchanan (for the Fire. Board), witness said that she would not recognise the fireman again. n 1 To Mr T. A. Gresson (for Ballantyne’s), witness said that she could not say if any water was being applied to the fire when .she saw the girls, ° “Little Bit Of A Fire”

“He told her that there was a little bit of a fire, and said they'll soon put it out,” said Joseph Gladstone Ashley Vallance, a senior clerk in the credi t office, describing a conversation between Miss Lloyd, one of the victims, and Mr Hicks, with whom he went to afternoon tea. She just said, in a jocular sort of way: “Oh is there? added Vallance. Vallance said that he was due to go to afternoon tea at 3.45 p.m. He heard Mr Hicks tell Miss Lloyd about the fire, and then tell Miss Beale, one of the typists. They walked along to the lounge, on the way to the staff cafeteria. “We couldn’t get across the head of the stairs for the staff coming up,” said Vallance. “People were coming out. I said: ‘They must be getting the wind up if they are coming out.’ Hicks said: ‘Don’t panic. They’ll soon put it out.’ We got to the cafeteria. It would not be five minutes before the sound of the fire engine. Hicks said to me: ‘I think we had better get out of it.’ We got up off our chairs leisurely. Hicks then said: ‘We are ordered out!’ We got into the street, where we saw flames coming from the accountancy office.”

The commission adjourned till the morning of February 17.