REMARKABLE ACCIDENT.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15360, 8 October 1923, Page 6

REMARKABLE ACCIDENT.

A remarkable accident, involving great damage and consequent loss of money, but, curiously enough, no sacrifice of human life, is reported in a recent issue of the Hobart Mercury. Repairs were being effected to the front of a three-storey brick building in one of the main streets, and in order to take the weight of the wooden beams which ordinarily supported the upper floors, the contractor had inserted a steel girder which rested on a buttress at each end. Tram and other traffic must have shaken one end of the girder off the buttress, for at about 3.30 p.m. (it was a Saturday and nearly everyone was at the football matches), the whole front of the building came down into the street with a thunderous crash, scattering bricks far and wide and raising a huge cloud of dust. Piles of masonry prevented traffic from using the street, which, in any case, was blocked by a cordon of policemen, which kept onlookers at a respectable distance. It was not until the following day that the building was bolstered up sufficiently to be considered safe. The damage was estimated at some thousands. The owner of the block, Mr J. H. Storr, had only recently come from New Zealand, and had purchased the property for some £15,000.