INQUEST AT LYTTELTON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6016, 1 November 1897, Page 1

INQUEST AT LYTTELTON.

On ' Saturday ;\n • inquest was hold at Lyttelton on the body of Edward Harrington, .who was killed on board the s.s. Mfi.t:vum on the previous «.lfij T . Mr, E. .Bevfliam was coroner and MrG. Laurenson foreman of che jury. Mr H. N. Nalder appeaved to watch the proceedings on behalf of the New Zealand Shipping Company, and Mr Kippenberger appeared for the relatives of the deceased. Samuel Hughes deposed that' he -was a ■stevedore amf • brother-in-law to the deceased, and was ou.the wharf close to the' Mataura ■ when the accident happened. •Deceased was on the end of a broken boom and fell. The boom appeared to give a jerk. Could not say what caused the jerk. Dr Pairman gave formal evidenc?. L. G_ Silba, chief officer of the s.s. Mataura deposed that -on- Friday, shortly after noon, a boom used as a derrick carried away and Harrington went aloft to secure it. He was ordered aloft by Mr Putnam, the company's master stevedore. He was to put a tackle to the lower mast-head for the purpose of sending the boom down on deck. Harrington was standing with one foot on the boom end and the other in the rigging; the boom gave a surge and he i'elbtcrthe deck. ' Witness considered' the surge was caused by tfie fracture of the boom continuing to go. Heard no orders given to slack away any of the gear. There was no necessity for deceased to have stood on the boom, he could have done the necessary work from the rigging. To a juror : There was no necessity to shackle on the guy, as the boom could have been sent down without it. To the Foreman : The order given was to send a tackle to the mast-head. Deceased was doing something he was not told to do. William J. Putnam; 1 -master stevedore in the employ of the New Zealand Shipping Company, said that he and deceased were below when a derrick carried away on deck. Upon getting on deck, witness said said to deceased : " You had better get utackle to the mast-head and send the boom down." Deceased replied that he thought he could lower it by means of the guy, but witness replied, " I don't think so, but you can try." He was in the act of shackling on the guy when he fell. Witness gave no order to let go the tackle about this time. Was of opinion that the vibration of the other winch caused the derrick to surge. Deceased was a permanent foreman in the Company's employ, and had full charge of the men and the works at that hatch. He could have sent the derrick down as he thought best. Witness merely suggested the tackle to the lower mast-head, but deceased elected to try a different plan. Deceased had been engaged for the Shipping Company for 'about twelve, months, but had been a leading hand for ten or twelve years at stevedoring. Francis G. Mapple, a labourer, said that he was working under Harrington's directions, and was assisting in securing the boom. Witness was handing deceased a tackle when he fell. Before going aloft Harrington ordered the tackle that had been used in sending the boom aloft to be hauled taut. Nicholas Radovinic-h said he was working in the gang with Harrington. While Harrington was aloft Mr Putnam came along and complained that only one man was working. He then called out, " Slack that tackle and take it aloft to the lower mast-head." Witness did not slack the tackle, because he thought it unsafe to do so. The order was repeated, and addressed personally to Samuel M'Donald. M'Donald slacked away the tackle, the boom gave a surge, and Harrington fell. The surge was caused by the tackle being slacked away. Samuel M'Donald and R. Maiden corroborated the evidence of the preceding witness. J. Green, boatswain of the Mataura, deposed that he would not have sent the boom down in the manner it was doF.e. Slacking away the tackle would cause the broken spar to surge. This was all the evidence, and, after a short deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of •• Accidental death/