SERIOUS ACCIDENT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1682, 25 May 1904, Page 60

SERIOUS ACCIDENT.

FALL FROM THE TOP OF A BUILDING. ONE MAN FATALLY INJURED. While building operations were being carried on on Friday at the new Customhouse, a four-story structure which is being erected in 'the vicinity of the Ferry Wharf, some of the scaffolding gave way, with the result that one of the tradesmen was precipitated to the gionnd, a distance of 62ft, and another seriously injured by falling timber. A block of Oamaru stone, intended for a cornice piece, and weighing nearly two tons, was being hauled to the top of the building by overhead travelling gear and a crab-winch on the ground. When within ton feet of the top, the beam on wliich the gear travelled gave way, and the stone fell to the ground, bringing with it portions of the scaffolding and a man named Henry Symes, who, in company with the foreman (Mr Given) and other mail named Thomas Stuart, was attending to the landing of the block above. Symes (who is a married man, residing at Wadestown) had his fall broken by collision with the intersections of the scaffolding, else he must have been killed immediately. As it was, lie bad several ribs broken, in addition to suffering serious internal injuries and wounds on the head. He was removed to the hospital, and died early on (Saturday morning. Five or six men were working the winch when the scaffolding gave way, and one of the number, Charles Walden, who resides at Brooklyn, was struck with a piece of falling timber. His injuries, consisting of scalp wounds, were not of a very serious nature, and it i 3 expected that lie will be able to resume work in a couple of days'. In falling, the huge block of stone crashed against the side of the building, and shattered mouldings and windowsills of Oamaru stone in its downward flight.