Truth MANGLING MACHINES.

NZ Truth, Issue 180, 28 November 1908, Page 4

Truth

MANGLING MACHINES.

Published Every Saturday Morning at Luke's Lane (off mannersstreet), Wellington, N.Z. Subscription. (in advance), 13s. • . per annum.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1908.

Accidents to tramway employees, and some of them attended by fatal results, have become altogether too common m [ Wellington to allow the latest of these occurrences to pass by unheeded, at any rate m these columns, and 'Truth, . therefore, wishes to draw the attention of the public to a few little f^cts that, - were this paper not m existence, or not m the habit of showing unwonted and uninvited curiosity m many little affairs, might not ever have a little daylight shed on them. ■ Now, last Monday there were two accidents to two tramway conductors that the daily press have declared to be shocking, and the result ol 3 these two aciidents is that two unfor- - Innate men are, at the time of writing, 1 lying at death's door, and "Truth" here - expresses its sincere hope that the two victims of a disorganised system will pull round, and that they will be but temporarily incapacitated, though it is to. be regretted that one of the injured men has his leg amputated as a result of what can be described as an accident at the car-shed at Mansfield-street, but which, so far as this paper can glean, is

due to utter carelessness, but ol "which, more anon. The latest accidents to tram-men, as we observed, occurred last Monday, and from the "Dominion" account we find that When proceeding down Lamb ton-quay between 9.15 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. yesterday (Monday), Conductor George Williams' leant over the side of a double-decked car from above m order to change the destination boards that are fitted m the sides of every car. He was just about to lift the board m order to reverse it, when his itead came m violent contact with one of the tramway poles that line the centre of the track. The poor fellow sustained a fractured scull, and, after being attended to temporarily, was removed to his home m Tinakori-road, where he still lies m a precarious conuioion. Williams is a married man. The other accident is thus described :— "What was even more shocking was the accident which occurred at the carshed at Mansfield-street at about B. SO p.m., by which Conductor W. Lever lost a leg. Two cars were being shunted m the shed, and Lever was m the act of adjusting the trolley pole of a statiqnary car,- m order to give it power to 'move it on, when he got on the tract, and as he was looking upward at the trolly-head he did not see the approach behind him of another car, which pinned him between the cars before the unfortunate man could move to One side. When the car backed away it was found that one 'of Lever's legs had been badly crushed just above the knee, and . that the maty was m. danger of bleeding to death. Some of the officials maintained a tight pressure above the injury to stem the flow of blood, whilst an urgent message was sent to Dr. Perkins to attend. He arrived three or four minutes later, bound up the leg, and sent the sufferer to the hospital, 'where it was found necessary to amputate the limb. It is stated on. seeing the accident the motorman m charge of the • moving car fainted. Lever is a married man, residing m Adelaide Road (Berhampore). From these accounts, truly typical of the hurried daily paper style, it would seem that both the unfortunate fellows, Williams and Lever, met with accidents which might or might not have been contributed to by their own carelessness, and it is perhaps due to these daily paper accounts of accidents that very often we see that a worker seeking compensation for injuries sustained finds that his claim has been somewhat prejudiced and he is lucky indeed if the allegation is not made . against him tha^ he owes all he got to. his lack of care. "Truth" is not suggesting for a moment that the Tramway authorities m Wellington are going iv either of the cases above to throw the blame, if blame' is attachable to anyone at all, on the two victims of Monday's accidents, but if it should at any time happen that they do, it might just as we'll then be necessary to have read what "Truth" is going to say. „ Wow, so tar as the accident to Williams is concerned, it might very well be asked how it came about that he should m Lambton Quay be engaged m . changing the destination boards, and "Truth's" answer to the v query is this : Williams, like every conductor m the service, will no doubt say that on arrival at the destination uf we car; little or no time whatever is afforded the conductor to change, the oirection' boards, because what with adjusting the trolley, reversing seats, checking his ticKets and his cash, he probably has jtisV time to do these things ere he must bo off again, and trusts for a spare second or two after his departure to change the, boards , risking, as he must, an accident by coming into collision witn the iron 'poles that disfigure 'our public streets: Tlie tram-men have few champions 'm Wellington, and few of the general public have - any idea of 'What the conductors put tip with m a day. They have little or no time whatever to their meals, tUey must run to time, must be up-to-ctate and number with their checks, must be civil and obliging,. and what is more apparent, so: rotten is the system of. rush, hustle" and bustle/ these men m carrying out their duties must carry their lives m their hands. We are mindful , of the fact that Conductor Williams is not the first employee on the trams who L.. ; had the misfortune to sustain a fiwcturccl skull through collision with these posts whilst engaged m changing destination boards. We know .of one man who, 14 months ago met with a similar accident, . he having sustained a fracture of the base of ' the skull. For 1 fourteen months that man has been under medical treatment and tlie sad*. fact''' remains he will never again be the hale, hearty, healthy, and cheerful indivj'diual that he always 1 was: Now that he Is practically incapacitated for life, there are -indications, that the insurance people, ■if not tire Ci ty Council, will shortly . seriously consider the question of paying the ruined , man a small sum m settlement for his . permanent irijur-: ies, and if ever •it comes to pass that that man, ruined- physically and incapable of sustained action, is thrown aside as a sort of useless too], "Truth" can be depended upon,, ih its usually honest style, to say something exceeuihgly unpleasant of these responsible. Reyertine; to the accident sustained by Lever at .the 'car-shed, which, resulted m 'that man losing a limb, "Truth" wishes to know if the loss of . Lever's limb is an accident pure and simple, or Whether it was not the "direct result of negligence of a motor-man, who drove his car from the rear stand, and could not, therefore, perceive what was happening m front of his car. "Truth" ( wants to know if, m these car-sheds, it. is impossible for conductors ' to adjust the trolleys without standing on the butters and lowering their limbs to such an extent that m the eyeni; of the rope slipping the conductor : is precipitated either on the line or into the pit ? We have been assured that had. the driver on the car that was responsible for taking off Lever's leg been m front of his car, instead of driving it from the rear, the accident could uot have possibly happened,' but it seems that peculiar customs are m vogue m the car-sheds white shunting is engaged m, and the -wonder to "Truth" is that accidents are so few and far between, and that far more men have not been, mangled to de^th. In! other cities of *New Zealand arid m Australia, it is generally the unfortunate citizen who is the victim of these electric mangling machines, but here m- Wellington the ordinary citizen seems to- bear 'a' charmed- life, "which, perhaps, m nine cases out of ten, is due to' the care and caution of the drivers. Nevertheless, it is', a remarkable fact ■that the conductors are more prune to meeting with serious accidents, and it is strange, too, to reflect that, there is always behind these accidents something which shows that the City Council Employees, for such tram-men are, are not protected with that zeal that one should expect from the Corporation. At anyrate we have here said enough, or, at le^st trust that enough has been said, to convince tramway manager Richardson that lie had better awaken to his responsibilities, otherwise there mivht be. breakers ahead. It looks as if things want shaking up badly, and if Richardson is not the man to do it, somebody else must be found that can and will do it.