PAINFUL BURNS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 304, 21 November 1936, Page 2

PAINFUL BURNS

FACTORY MISHAP. Pei- Press Association. AUCKLAND, Nov. 20. Two employees were burned and damace estimated at £SO to £IOO was done when a'sudden flare-up of benzine occurred at about 11.30 this morning in the boot and shoe factory owned by Bridgens and Co., Ltd., New North lload. The injured are: Florence Dawson, aged 16, New Lynn, severe arm and hand bums; she is in hospital. Charles Bridgens, aged 27, slightly burned on one arm; he received firstaid treatment. The factory was in full swing at the time and 260 employees were in the building, many of them girls and young women. Miss Dawson was working at a bench in a corner of the factory, finishing off shoes, and using a cloth clipped in benzine. Near her was a tin containing a small quantity of benzine, and further along the bench was a gas flare with a shield about it. Miss Dawson moved along the bench and when close to the gas jet the cloth ignited. The flames caught the rubber glove she was wearing, and before it could be pulled off her arm her hand was badly burnt. _ , . . Bridgens was injured while assisting Miss Dawson-. The fire spread to paper scrappings, but the flames were extinguished with a hose. . , ■ .