COLLAPSE IN HOLD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22976, 2 March 1938, Page 11

COLLAPSE IN HOLD

WHAKATANE FATALITY EVIDENCE AT INQUEST [bt telegraph OWN correspondent] T7HAKATANE, Tuesday The inquest into the death of Aiden Stewart, a waterside worker, aged 34, who collapsed and died while working yesterday in the hold of the coastal vessel Otimai was held , to-day before the coroner, Mr. G.'A. Brabant. A waterside worker. John A. McBride, said he was working with Stewart in the hold of the vessel unloading cement: He noticed Stewart looked pale, but he did not complain. About three-quarters of an hour later he heard a thud and saw Stewart lying on the door of the hold.. So far as he could judge there was no possibility of an accident. Stewart had complained during the morning of the heat, but not of his health. The hold was very hot. He did not see the sling hook near Stewart and saw nothing fall on him. Walter Crap'p said he was holding the sling hook at the time Stewart collapsed and he saw nothing strikff him. Another man Lad had to leave title hold as the work was 100 hard for him. A foreman stevedore, John Crapp, said he could find no cause for the wound on Stewart's head. Detailing the result of a j>ost-mortem examination Dr. F. J. Appleby said tlie only external mark was on the brow, the wound appearing to hjtvo been caused by a fall. The condition of Stewart's heart was such that death would be likely if ho did heavy work in a confined space. The coroner returned a , verdict of death following heart failure..