THE LIFT FATALITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18121, 20 June 1922, Page 3

THE LIFT FATALITY.

EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST. DEATH THROUGH MISADVENTURE. An adjourned inquest was conducted before Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., yesterday, in connection with the death of Norman Cuthbert Brough, a 17-year-old apprentice, employed by the Electric Construction Company, who was- crushed, by a lift on June 12 while working on the new premises being erected for Milne and Choyce, Ltd. Sergeant Capp appeared, for the police, Mr. Endean for tha Electric Construction Company, and Mr, Johnstone for the father of deceased. Vernon Howard Brookes, electrician in the employ of the Electric Construction Company, deposed that deceased wa« assisting to unload the cage in the basement. Witness told him to move fouir ba'.i cries ? 9in. nearer the bit well. \S; icss did not seo deceased again until f . accident happened. The shifting of tho oatteries would not necessitate deceased going into the well, and would not necessitate the ordinary work of the hit being stopped. To Mr. Endean: It was unnecessary for deceased to expose himself to danger ira changing the batteries. David Cockrane, a fifth-year apprentice in the company's employ, who was driving the lift, stated that ho looked, down the wall, called out "All clear!" and the lift descended. There were two other apprentices inside. The cage had only proceeded about 18in, when there was a slight yur. Witness immediately stopped the lift and then made it ascend. William Henry Potter, another apprentice, who was in the cage, corroborated the evidence of the previous witness. In reply to Mr. Johnstone, he said the shifting of the batteries could have been accomplished most easily by deceased thrusting his arm into the well, and not by getting into the well himself. "Harry Statham, foreman employed by the Fletcher Construction Company, expressed a similar view. Walter George Scott, Government inspector of machinery, stated that hS inspected the lift after the accident, and found it in good working order. To Mr. Johnstone, he stated that the batteries could have been easily movod with an arm without entering the well, and the fact that the lift machinery was working would not have rendered the work dangerdus. The coroner said that owing to the doctor being otherwise engaged medical evidence would have to be taken later. He could, however, give his verdict from the evidence before him. This showed that the work deceased had to do could have been done without in any way endangering his body, and it must have been, obvious to deceased that tho lift could be put in motion at any time. There was > nothing in the evidence to explain the accident exactly. A verdict was returned of death through misadventure