£229,238 CLAIMED

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22201, 19 February 1942, Page 6

£229,238 CLAIMED

Damage And Death Resulting From Fire TWO WRITS SERVED ON POWER BOARD (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Feb. 18. Following the destructive fire at the premises of John Burns and Company, Limited, in Customs Street, Auckland, on August 19, 1941, when extensive damage was caused to buildings and from which he later died, two writs claiming damages have been issued. A writ claiming £225,188 damages contents and an employee of the firm, Francis Harold Baker, suffered injuries while escaping from the building and against the Auckland Electic Power Beard was issued by Goldstine, O’Donnell and Wilson, solicitors for John Burns and Company, Limited, for damage caused to the building (.nd stock by fire as the result of alleged negligence on the part of the Power Board. Diverse breaches of statutory duty are alleged, the main allegation being in regard to the failure of the Power Board to exercise its statutory obligations as set out in the respective regulations concerning electrical installations.

A writ has been issued by Mr A. K. North, of Auckland, on behalf of the Public Trustee as executor of the estate of the late Francis Harold Baker, claiming £4050 damages on behalf of his widow and children against John Burns and Company, Ltd., the Auckland Electric Power Board, and H. K. Brown and Company. It alleges that Baker’s death was due to injuries received while trying to escape from the fire, that the fire was caused by an electrical short, and that the short occurred by reason of a breach by the Power Board and John Burns and Company of their statutory duties. It also alleges that H. K. Brown and Coy. were guilty of negligence.