PERILS RISKED EVERY DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2398, 15 February 1900, Page 65

PERILS RISKED EVERY DAY.

» . 1 ANY MOMENT MAY WITNESS A MISHAP. If it be at least a little far-fetched to declare that, most people dying in bed, bed must be the most dangerous place of all, it is very certain thai few recognise the risk to life and b'mb that is incurred by many folk in their every-day vocations. The immunity from accident of the majority masks the dangers that lurk for all ; and, a miss being proverbially as good as a mile, it is,

only when a catastrophe happens that attention is called to the fact that workers afc some seeming] v humdrum occupations, face perils in winch the odds on Death arc greater even than in the soldier's calling. Our railways, for instance, supply many examples of great risks run as parL of eveiy day's experience. On long runs the enginedriver or stoker has to oil the bearing,-, and various perls of the flying locomotive without stopping or even slackening speed. What would happen to him did his himd slip from the guard rail he — happily for himself — does not pciise to contemplate. " Right a-Ndy!"' cries (lie guaid, when, hiving gone up the platform to clo^e the carriage doors, ]ie &t.'ud&, majbe, pretty weli opposite the middle of the train. By the time bis, compartment reaches him it

is moving at a &marl pace, and. considering the many thousands oi stoppages pnd starts made every day. it is surprising that a gj'eeter number of the.se hard-working officials are not injured by slipping upon the narrow steps. Shunting operations return the longest accident roll irom our railways. Will it be credited that in t>vo recent years one brakesman or goods guard in 15 was injured, and one in 330 and 264, respectively, killed, whilst of shunters, one in 12 was injured and one in 209 and 203 killed? This means that in lhos<j two years 69 shunters were killed and 1185 injured, whilst 81 brakesmen and

goods guards met their death, and 1573 suffered injury ! Of any one company, during the hsi, 30 year., » record seems to have been established by the big line on which, in 1895, two men were killed in coupling and uncoupling ard 113 injured and 18 killed in other shunting operations and 455 injured — a total of 20 killed and 568 injuied on cie railway in 12 months! Often, it must be confessed, the men grow careless over then* work. In a recent case a porter ami'sed himself by singing as he was coupling some waggons. After a while, imagining the 1 racks must b_\ that lime be oil fastened, the engine-driver whistled and then backed Ins engine. The porter still went on singing unconcernedly, and it was only v/Len another man. seeing the trucks bumping together, yelled in alarm to .he absent-minded one that he dropped on to the uvick ju-.t a&- the buffers closed over his hecirl. Telegraph liaesinen, bill-slickers doing lofty posting, slaters, and house painters

are exposed to continual danger from the altitude at which they work, the peril being increased by the advent of windy weather. The humble window-cleaner, working upon the higher floors of a modern '"skyscraper, "' has little between him and destruction. Often no more intervenes than a frail contrivance of wood, one form of which is shown in the picture, fitted simply on to the framework of the window. Liftmen may easily come to grief, though it would appear that persons unacquainted with the position of the lift's "well " more often fall down it. Tram lines are sometimes a dangerous menace to ihe axles of omnibuses and other heavily-laden vehicles. Beneath our feel, hidden and unsuspected, hardy fellows daily explore the drains,

threatened by drowning from a sudden rainfall or suifocation by foul gas. Below the ground, too, the miner toils, not only in galleries tunnelled through the earth, but in all manner of little black, tortuous side burrows. Tn these tomb-like cavities the miners ply their picks, sometimes even in the position shown, and apparently oblivious of the fact that a fall of coal may in an instant cut them off from the outside world— maybe for ever. Like the railway shunter* but v/ith aven more recklessness, the miner often voluntarily increases the risks that he and his comrades run. idafefcy lamps viill be callously opened and pipes lit ; or, maybe, a man goes on working after being told to demist till the wiills and roof of the tunnel liars been shored, up

In crowded thoroughfares of big cities the cycle is to the driver of vehicks of all sorts a source of terror. Cyclists — of the weaker se:^ as well as the strong — are wonderfully daring in venturing right beneath the hor-.es"

noses, or in darting between the wheels of two vehicles wherever there are four irch.es to sppre. A class of riders of this t-ovi who appear to bear charmed lives are the youths employed in the distribution ol some evening pppers. A do;:er! lif.ies a day aim.'hiktion of bedv and cycle threatens i\:t<e fe^rle^s "pcorcbers,"' but their atoide.it>> would appear to be surpri.-ingly few. In vret wenther their daily peri! 15. even more app.rent : bul pouring idr: and greasy ro.;ds do not deter them, and the speed at which they get out their deliveries renders them popular with their employers. If a spill do n s occur, it is usually the bicycle that suiters injury ; a fact which has led some employers ot such labour to pay an inclusive charge of so much per M-oek for repairs. Finally, there is the " house-breaker '" — not the villain of bull's-eye and jemmy — the cool-headed navvy or workman. Vi'ho, amidst a chuo^ of broken bricks, and breathing an atmosphere composed mostly of lime and du-.t, p^ses him&elf aloit on a 'ioot-wide tottering wail, which he calmly proceeds to demolish beneath his very i'eet ! This is work reqiririno skill as well as strength, and the men undertaking it are seldom employed as general labourers, though sometimes assisting in the erection of c caffoldius". Said one man engaged on sach work : "It comes easy to some to balance themselves

co, while others -want a footwuv a vr.rd wide or they can do nothing. It's ticklish work when a gti't/r wind i-. blowing. Yes, I've seen many a no sty accident, and broken bones and sometimes j-kulls f,re not uncommon tn our line. It's better, by the way, to fall towards the front ox the building if you can, as there is nearly always boarding fixed out there to prevent any odd bricks, plaster, or woodwork, etc., dropping on to the heads of passers-by. That, if you're lucky, will save you.'' Housebreakers, it may be added, receive ex'.ra pay for the risks they run. — Ca^eli's Saturday Journal.