CHARLES LEATHAM'S DEATH.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1107, 21 April 1911, Page 4

CHARLES LEATHAM'S DEATH.

RETORT FROM THII WHARFINGER. The Harbour Board officials having been charged with impromptitude in summoning assistance in tho case of Charles 11. Eeatham, who expired suddenly ill ( llto wharf labourers' waiting-room on .Tuesday, tho chairman of the board (Mr. 11. Flitchcr) called for a report from tho wharfinger. 1 The following is a-copy:— "Dear sir, —At tho chairman's request I report herewith on the of i Charles Henry Lcatham, who expired suddenly in the wharf labourers' waitingroom on' April ISOn Tuesday afternoon, at i 2.45 p.m., the caretaker of the waiting-room ! informed the assistant labour foreman ! that a man named Lentbara had broken a blood-vessel. Thereupon the foreman immediately telephoned to tho King's Wharf for i/catham'6 son, and also telephoned to the tolls office to ring up in | the public telephone for a doctor and policc. The tolls office, at 2.49 p.m., intormed a constable, who said: 'I. will j go over there at once, - but don't telephone for the doctor till I get there.', Tho foreman went into the waiting-room at 2.48 p.m. (i.e., thn» minutes after ho received the information), felt Leatliam'.-i pulse, which had stopped, and saw that ho was apparently dead. The constable then arrived with Leatham's 6on, and ho (the constable) agreed that tho man was dead, but he sent for Dr. Henry, who arrived a few minutes later. In conclusion, I desire to point out that tho charge made against the"board's officials of delaying to nroenre immediate medical assistance is "untrue. The board have a trained ambulance corps of about thirty men, who render first aid to anyone requiring it, whether working for the board or other firms. There are also ambulance hampers, stretchers, blankets, etc., distributed about tho sheds in readiness for accidents, and the standing order to the corps and the other employees is to ring up for a doctor and ambulance immediately a serious accident occurs. As 1 was personatly ;\ware, of the circumstances at the time, I am fully convinced that the board's officers did everything possible.—l am, etc., A. T. Hale Monro, assistant secretary and wharfincr."