ABSENCE OF ESCAPES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20101, 18 May 1927, Page 10

ABSENCE OF ESCAPES

TWO DEATHS RESULT. 'NAPIER BOARDING-HOUSE FIRE. POINTED COMMENT. (Pee United Pbese Association.) . NAPIER, May 17. The inquest on the two victims of the Shakespeare road boarding-house fire was concluded before Mr R. W. Dyer, coroner. Robert Bruce, the tenant, gave evidence that he conducted the boarding-house in conjunction with his wife. They had 13 boarders. On the night of the fire he was sleeping downstairs. He noticed the fire about 4 o’clock, and rushed upstairs to warn a girl who was working for them. Webber's room was upstairs, facing the street, and Robinson’s room was upstairs, at the back, facing the verandah. The fire seemed to start in the centre of the building. There were no fire escapes except a ladder to the back verandah, which was not a fixture. John Pearce Smith, the owner of the building, gave evidence that the only means of escape was by a ladder at thq rear. Hq did not know of other fire escapes. The house was partly burnt down four years ago. He did not know what the inner partitions were made of. He told the architect to use non-inflammable material. Witness was sure that the fire started in a chimney, which was part ot the original chimney included when the building was rebuilt. The old chimney was defective. Witness took no steps to see that fire escapes were provided. He was told that the boarding used in the interior was non-inflammable. James A. Louis Hay, the architect who prepared the plans for the boardinghouse’s reconstruction four years ago, stated that no provisions were made tor fire escapes on the plans. Witness mentioned the matter to Smith, and told him that the city authorities would ask him to put them in. He said he would do so when”asked. The specifications were deposited the Napier Borough Council and approved. Witness had not been instructed by Smith to put in non-inflam-mable material. ■ . “The finding i ill be the same in each case,” said the coroner —“that the victims were burnt to death in the destruction by fire of the Shakespeare boarding-house in the early hours of May 2. I think the inquest has been full and complete. It seems to me a serious thing indeed that in the construction of a house like that no provision was made for fire escapes beyond a ladder at the back, which, from the evidence; was apparently no good as a means of escape. Thus the staircase or the windows were the only means ot escape. The thing was a veritable death trap! The architect says he drew the owner’s attention to the lack of tire escapes, and the owner said he would provide them when asked. Apparently he ■was never called upon. Had there £ cen fire escapes, so far as we can see these two unfortunate men would not have lost their lives. It is a serious matter, and one that requires immediate attention.’

The victims were John Webber, aged 59 single, a waterside worker, and William Robinson, aged 30, single, and unemployed. The bodies of the two victims were recovered after a diligent search. It appears that Webber, who slept.in the front of the building, rushed to the rear, where the fire started, and fell off the stair landing into the flames below. His remains consisted of a few bones only. Robinson was apparently suffocated in, his sleep.