REEFTON NOTES

Grey River Argus, 11 October 1930, Page 2

REEFTON NOTES

(From Our Own Correspondent. ) REEFTON, October 10. A sitting of the Arbitration Court for the hearing of compensation eases will be held at Reef ton on Thursday, 23rd October. Wandering cattle are playing havoc with the gardens of residents at the present time. One garden was entered last night by three cows and some 350 young cabbages were eaten down, as well as other damage being done. The monthly meeting of the council of the School of Mines was held last evening. Present: Messrs I. Patterson (president), W. B. Auld (secretary), T. C. O’Brien, J. W. Paterson, N. Lawn, A. P. Watson, W. J. Morris. The President reported having made inquiries re gas in cylinders, and stating the same was being supplied to the Railways Department at Greymouth. The Under secretary of Mines wrote on the subject of a gas testing certificate, quoting regulations from the Coal Mines Act dealing with this matter; also on repairs to school buildings, stating the same was being attended to. It was resolved that the amount asked for* by the Dobson School Committee for the use of the hall be paid. Accounts were passed I for payment and the meeting dosed.

Mr W. Rivers, who is at present in Greymouth, is showing improvement in health.

Mrs Lloyd, of Sydenham, has left for home after visiting Reefton. The weather cleared to-day, after the downpour yesterday, but. the tem- | perature was low. The funeral of the late Mr Charles L. Skinner takes place at Greymonth to-morrow afternoon, when there will be a large attendance from Reefton to honour the memory of one of its most popular residents. At its meeting last. evening, the ReeftOn.Fire Brigade de- , cided that its members should be the pall bearers, the deceased having been one of their most energetic members. The annual meeting of the Reefton Tennis Club took place last evening, there being over twenty members present, and in the absence of the President, Mr E. W. Spencer, at Wellington, Mr Sharpe was voted to the chair. The balance sheet showing the club to bo in a sound financial position, and report reviewing the past season’s af-1 fairs and recording a vote of thanks ! to Mr P. H. Instone, who acted as West Coast tournament secretary, and

j to Mr S. Whitehead, secretary for the . I tentiis ball/ were approved. Office i . bearers wore elected as follows: Presi- I dent, Mr E. W. Spencer (unopposed); I 1 Vice-President, Mr W. S. Pratt (un- . opposed); Club Captain, Mr O. B. A ' Sharpe (unopposed); Hon. Secretary i and Treasurer, Miss L. King (unop- | i posed). For the committee, nominations were received, and a ballot taken, the following being duly elect- | ed: Ladies, Misses Lee, C. Brooks, and G. M.agee, and Mrs Russell; gents, Messrs T. H. Lee junr., Newton, Main-1 donald, Whitehead. The other officers elected were: Selection* and Match I Committee, Club Captain, Secretary I and Miss Taaffe; Ground Committee,' , Messrs Gore-'Porter, Maindonald and | .Sharpe; Auditor, Mr T. H. Lee, jiinr.; | ; Caretaker, Mr E. Elliston. It was decided to hold the opening day on Sat- j urday, the 18th inst., when a Yankee I Tournament would be conducted, and , visitors invited to attend. A sub- • : committee consisting of Misses Stal- 1 lard and Lee, Mrs Rea and Messrs A. . McElwee, Lee and Whitehead, werel appointed to arrange for a. dance at ' jthe Band Room in the evening. About l: 12 new members were enrolled. With ' a view to increasing the membership 1 and to have full use made of all the • ' I courts, subscriptions were reduced to: I Gents 30/-, ladies 20/-, with rebate of i 5/- if paid before Ist December; counit ry members 10/6, juniors (limited to j certain hours of play) 5/-. It was 1 decided to play ranking matches in! ' place of the Club Ladders as an ex- ' periment during the season; also that i Dunlop Balls should be used in all club competitions. An old club rule providing for the reservation of a i court by giving notice to the Secre- [ tary and on payment of a fee. was de-1 ' leted. Numerous other matters and • j some useful suggestions were then left ! in the hands of the incoming commit- ' tee to deal with; and a most enthuI siastic meeting then closed, after pass- | ing the usual votes of thanks, and i ■ especially to Miss King for her seri vices as secretary during the past seaj son. INQUEST. I ■ An inquest was held at the Court- j j house this morning before Mr W. B. | Auld, J.P., Coroner, concerning the ‘ death of Charles Lempfert Skinner.» ' Mr T. Phillips appeared for the relatives, and Sergeant Fryer conducted Ithe proceedings. I John iN. Skinner, brother of de- 1 ' ceased, gave evidence of identification, ‘ stating deceased was 29 years of age, ;and a mine deputy, employed at Al- I born’s mine. He was a married man, I ' but had no children. i Roderick Victor Alborn, employed at! I Alborn’s mine, stated that about 2 j I p.m. on October 7th, with deceased he i was engaged breaking coal from pil. ' .lais. He continued: —“We had fired i four shots in this place. The accident ' ; happened about 15 minutes after the * ' last shot was fired in the pillar. After the shot, the Deputy (Skinner) tested the roof. We then shovelled out the 1 i loose coal that the shot brought down. Deceased tested the roof again before he resumed picking. Just as he start- i cd picking a slab of stone fell from i the roof and partly buried him. I ■ was standing about six feet away at • the time. The stone fell without any ■ warning at all. I went straight to de- I ' ceased’s assistance, and lifted the stone ! | as much as I could. I called for asj sistance, and my brother Bernard, j ' came. Further assistance came just . then, and we got Skinner from under , the stone and sent for medical assist- ’ anee. Dr. Wieken arrived about an hour after, and Skinner was taken to ’ Reefton Hospital. Skinner was the manager of the mine, and was respon. .

sible for the provision of the Coal j Mines Act and the regulations there- ’ under being observed. The accident J happened in a rise pillar near the out- £ crop. We had worked in that place i during all that day. After removing / the loose coal it was our intention to go somewhere else to work. The place was about four feet high, and I considered it safe. The usual practice is to set props five feet apart. On this occasion it. was not done because we were leaving the place. If we had been working there constantly we would have put two extra props in. I estimated the weight of the stone that fell at 9ewt. to half a ton. The stone came away from a greasy back that was exposed as a result of firing the shot. ’ ’ t

Bernard Mollison Alborn, trucker at Alborn’s mine, stated:—l was employ, ed there on October 7th and was trucking from deceased. I was called to an accident, and found deceased pinned under a stone and my brother trying to release the stone. We could only lift the stone, but could not get Skinner out. We got further assistance and got deceased out. I went for Dr. J. L. Wieken. The deceased did not say anything when I was there. John W. Oates, of Progress Junction, trucker in Alborn’s mine, stated:—l was outside the. mine about 2 p.m., and was told of an accident. I went to see and found deceased with a piece of rock resting on his legs. I helped to release him and he was brought out of the mine, and on the way to the lorry we met the doctor. Dr. W. A. Conlon stated:—l saw deceased, Charles Skinner, about 4.30 p.m. on October 7. He was lying on the body of a motor lorry, being con, veyed to Reef ton Hospital. Dr. Wieken was with him. There was also Mr Robert Cook, and the Alborn brother*.

He was obviously a sick man. He was conveyed to the hospital, where I ex amined him and found him suffering from a fractured right thigh bone at j the junction of the upper middle third * of the leg; dislocation of the thigh ’ bone in the left hip joint; and exten-1 sive bruising of the back across the I hips. He was profoundly shocked, and• bore evidence of bleeding as well as j shock. Remedial measures were taken I to restore warmth to the body and combat pain. 1 again saw deceased nt I about 8 p.m., his conditions being j rather worse than better. I then re- I turned and under general anaesthesia ' explored still further, if possible, to ] find the point from which the bleeding 1 I occurred. I did an exploratory opera- | I tion on the abdomen and failed to dis- | cover abdominal haemorrhage which I | ' strongly suspected. His condition af- | I ter the operation was neither better I ! nor worse* he passed a fairly restless ] j night, but notwithstanding seemed stronger aud better than the previous ] I evening. He was still profoundly i shocked. Further treatement was car. 1 ried out again in an endeavour to re- i I store lost fluid to the body and mini- , mine pain. His condition did not im- ! prove; from hour to hour he became j worse, dying at 4.30 p.m. The cause | of death in my opinion was due to—l Ist, proximate cause, shock; 2nd, bleed.* ing; 3rd, the extent of injuries men-I tioned in the first part of my evi- j I deuce. | I To the Coroner: —After death I ex- * plored the region in the back where ox. j I tensive bursting had occurred. An ex- | l tensive blood dot covered the whole J region of the lower part of the spine | i and hips. The spinal column was in- | tact. There was, however, a fracture of the external processes of the fourth and fifth lumbar vertibrae on both sides of the body. There was extensive haemorrhage here, infilitrating all the ' tissues of the body in that region. There was also diffused blood in the spinal cord itself. These injuries, how- i ever, were not the cause of death. The cause of death was, as stated before, j shock; that is to say the summation I of injuries all over the body in the parts injured, destroyed so much nerve tissue that death resulted. The por. tion of the body fractured, between the hip bones, is the strongest part of the human frame, and the force necessary to effect that fracture must ha\e been intense.. Dr. J. Lewis Wieken stated: On October 7th about 2 p.m.j- I received a message to proceed to Alborn’s mine. I went immediately and found : several miners bringing the deceased, ' Charles Skinner, on a stretcher from 1 the coal mine to the binns. I immediately recognised that he was seriously injured; and, after giving him the necessary first aid treatment, I had him conveyed to the Reef ton Hospital. I assisted Dr Conlon in the treatment of the patient while in hospital, and I agree with the findings mentioned by him in his evidence.

To Sergeant Fryer: He had received all the first aid that could be rendered when 1 arrived.

David McKane, Workmen’s Inspee. tor for Inangahua Coal Field, stated: U I inspected Alborn’s mine this morning where the accident happened and produce my report for the information of the Coroner.”

The Coroner, in giving his verdict, considered it was one of the accidents inseparable from the mining industry, and returned a verdict: “That the deceased came by his death on October Bth from injuries received by a fall of stone in Alborn’s mine on October 7th.’’