DEATH TRAP THAT WAS HARBOR STREET

NZ Truth, Issue 1102, 13 January 1927, Page 7

DEATH TRAP THAT WAS HARBOR STREET

N.Z. Truth Arraig ns The Mayor And The Auckland Council Works Committee HOW YOUNG WILLIAM HUXTABLE MET AWFUL FATE 4iiiMiliiilliliillM>iiilihlililll)lniluiiltliliinuilinnr iMihtitltMiHliiitliiiliiiiiitiii>iilHltiuiiiiuitlllilitiiiililillMiliiiiiiiiiitiiiiililllM>liiitinliiiitiiriiMiiltMriiiili>iti<lltiiuiiiiiiiin)iiliiiiiiitliiiiiiiiiiil>iiiii^ {* ' '

lj , Mister Mayor and gentlemen of the Auckland City Coun- If f| cil Works Committee, "New Zealand Truth" places you m || If the public dock before a tribunal of your fellow-citizens §| II upon a charge of manslaughter. . . . And how say you? II ■ = .. . . ■ '. si

+ v aumuuuMww BNTLEMEN, there! . V^SST"""**** 1 * is sufficient cviNi§§| /*~* dence m this /NflfcO|L^| t _ paper's possession msJMG^gft to warrant you bellffissjgil ing arraigned upon Kn&u&^S^^s most serious crimes m tne calendar of Hn^Pw^^^ criminal offences. ' H^S^K^l siders that there *? .TOISiMpiWH a case to go before a higher Court, and calls upon the public, whose representatives you are, to judge you upon a charge of causing the death of William Huxtable, aged 19 years. Gentlemen, you are well aware of the facts. Your hurried action immediately after the shocking fatality m erecting a barricade upon the fatal spot is fraught with a significance that - can only have arisen, out of a £onT science guilty m the extreme. I Gentlemen, the fatal accident m J Harbour Street, Ponsonby, took^ ft place at a late hour on the night" f of December 23—11.30 p.m. — when J young Huxtable was a passenger ** m a five-seater car driven by a friend, a young *man named Reginald Woolley. Briefly, the facts are that these two young men, with a third, named Horace Winstone, were • testing out a car which they intended to take on a five-day tour ccJmmencing from Christmas Eve. The car had been dismantled a few days previously, and had been thoroughly overhauled by Woolley, who is a competent --mechanic,, with eight years' experience. On the night of December 23 Woolley completed the assembling of the car at a fairly late hour. He then called round to young Huxtable's place m Dominion Road, and asked him to accompany him on a run , to test the engine and see if ali was m order. The car avsls taken along Ponsonby Road, and because the driver overran Smith Street, he turned into Harbour Street, seeking a way to the city. You, gentlemen, must be perfectly well acquainted with the knowledge, as members of the City Council Works Committee, that Harbour Street is a blind street and that there is no indication at the entrance to the street of this fact. i . . •Crash ! / The locality .waS" strange to the driver of the car, consequently he Was not travelling at more than 10 to 12 miles per hour. He quite satisfied the coroner upon this important point. Actually it was not until the front Wheels of the ; car dropped over the embankment that he and the others realised that something was radically wrong. The car r , is a. left-hand- drive, and Woolley promptly swung the machine towards the right, and a few seconds later the car dashed Jnto some obstacle and overturned. It crashed down a fifteen-foot embankment, landing at the bottom upside down. Young; Huxtable was pinned underneath. , Woolley and Winstone hnd miraculous escapes, both being thrown clear. The next day when the scene of the fatality was visited it disclosed a state of affairs astounding m the extreme. Some distance up Harbour Street the road, instead of continuing on at its proper width, falls away from the centre to a drop of about fifteen feet for some.* distance to give access to certain dwellings below the level of the road. The strip of road on the right is some ten or twelve 'feet wide. Imme- • diately over the spot where the road falls away an electric lamp has been placed on a pole, which m turn is situated on the footpath. Some ten feet along the edge, of the embankment a sewer manhole is jutting up from the level of the roadway. It was this obstruction that the car struck after Woolley swerved. The street light, for the purpose of revealing the danger, was utterly use-

o^ — .- "••■ *' >• . less. The car lights^ combining with the beams from the electric light made it difficult to see from the driver's seat that the road did not continue, and the situation of the lamp simply conveyed the impression that the way was clear. Afterwards The following day strong railings were placed at an angle across that "portion of the road fencing off the drop. " Gentlemen, it needed the toll of human life, to stir you to take the necessary action to transform this death trap into a road reasonably safe. Remember, no accusation can be levelled at these young men of being m an intoxicated condition or of having driven the car at a dangerous speed. They were all perfectly sober and the reason for them testing out the car at such at late hour is m order when it is. remembered that Woolley had his ordinary duties' to perform during the day which prohibited him from working on the car except at night. Naturally after he had completed assembling the car. on December 23, though it was late at night, there was not a great deal of time before Christmas Eve for him to rectify any matter Which might still be wrong with the machine and which only a test would disclose. That therefore is the explanation of. their presence m the locality m. which the accident took place. They were not joy-riding! The other ocu pants of the car swear that it was impossible to see 1 the drop until the car was practically upon the brink of danger. The street, they assert, on approach had all the appearance of being continuous m its right width and the posi- , tion of the lamp conveyed this impression. The city coroner, when he viewed tho scene of the tragedy some days , later — after your employees had erect- ( ed the barrier — said, "A dangerous , place, especially at night." Gentlemen, "a death trap" is the | only way that street could possibly ' have been described on the night young Huxtable met his death. Even to-day there is no notice to teli the public that it is a blind x street though happily precautions have been ' taken to prevent a recurrence of an- [ other fatality upon the spot. Perhaps, gentlemen, you will plead !iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiii!iiii!iii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiniii

that the person responsible for the i existence of the Harbour Street death trap is the officer paid by the city council to report upon such matters to tht> Works .Committee — the city engineer. Responsibility "N.Z. Truth" holds him m a measure responsible. You cannot evade your responsibility m the matter though! It is your paramount duty to see that 9 ' > . '

imiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiMiimiiiiiiiiiiimiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii the streets of this city are devoid of dangers. If you carry our a periodic inspection of the city, and suburban streets for the purpose of seeing that all is m order why was this obvious death trap permitted to remain? If, on the other hand, you state that you do not carry out such inspections, then why not? Your duty is not to iHuiiiimiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniimiiuiiiniiniimiiiiiiiiiiimimiinnmiimiMii

tiiiiiiiiiiniiiinimimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiimimiimmiimm rely upon the reports of an overworked council official, who m turn, no doubt, passes this Important duty on to subordinates. There are other death traps m and around Auckland. Is it the intention of the gentlemen of the Works Committee to rely upon the intervention of providence where such dangerous" spots are concerned. And now, what do you propose iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii .. . i

to do about making some sort of restitution to the parents of this unfortunate citizen for the loss of their son? - ; ' j.True, j'ou cannot bring him back to life! :^. And -fQ^id," says the father of William "that I should make 'capit^ojftipf^my son's death. This ;:mi^.atopear 'strange' to you, I who, .no' doubJ^ expected a claim for ■ • ; > ; ' r-1 -'JT'' ■■■V->'- : -' ■■': ■ ■■•' ■ ' ===

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiuniiiiiiMiittiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim compensation for young Huxtable's death. . \ The father does not want to dicker and barter with you over the value he set upon his* boy's life. No, gentlemen. All he hopes for is that the tragedy may serve to drive home the criminal negligence of a public body and thus bring about a reform for the sake of others. that the coroner has, by his verdict, exonerated Mister Mayor and the gentlemen of the Auckland City Council Works Committee from direct re-i sponsibility for the death of William Huxtable, "New Zealand Truth" prefers the charge and offers evidence as above.