ACCIDENTS ON WHARVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16876, 14 June 1918, Page 6

ACCIDENTS ON WHARVES.

SOUTHERN PERCENTAGES.

[by telegraph.— PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

DCNEDIX. Thursday. The Accidents on Wharves Commission sat at Dunedin to-day, and completed the evidence of waterside workers at Port Chalmers. One witness stated that any improved system of inspection on the waterfront should include the inspection of ships' holds prior to produce being stored in them. He quoted an instance in which he saw 24 rats killed in a hold which was half-full of cheese.

Captain Thomson, harbourmaster, agreed that all gear in ships and hulks, and belonging to Harbour Boards, should be inspected by a competent Government inspector.

William Smith, in charge of the Union Steam Ship Company's industrial department, said the company kept a record of all accidents in its service on the waterfront. Last year there had been 19 accidents at cargo work in Dunedin, or one in every 1230 men employed. At Port Chalmers there had been two accidents a* cargo work, representing one to every 6581 men employed, while a total of 41 accidents had occurred at the repair works at Port Chalmers, representing one to every 559 men employed. The witness quoted statistics to show that the percentage of street and railway accidents in Great Britain was greater than the percentage of accidents on the waterfronts in the Dominion.

Captain Corbett. foreman stevedore for Messrs. John Mill and Company, said that last year his firm had 13 accidents, or an average of one for every 154 men employed, or one for every 5434 tons handled. The evidence of Ms. John Edward Galhraith, superintendent stevedore for the Shaw-Savill Company, was to the effect that last year his company had three accidents, or one to every 3340 men employed, or one to every 11,939 tons handled.