TALISMAN FATALITY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1713, 2 April 1913, Page 8

TALISMAN FATALITY.

THE INQUEST,

ENGINE-DRIVERS' EVIDENCE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) Auckland, April .1. The inquest regarding the. deaths o£ William Hyde and Thomas Jl'Bride, who 1 wero killed in the Talisman mine on Friday afternoon, was rbsumed at Pae- ' roa to-day before Mr. Joseph Nathan (coroner) and a jury. Mr. Moresby repre- > seated the relatives of deceased, Mr. s Clcndon tha company, and Mr. I'. Mor- . Kan tha Miners' Union. Mr. M. Paul (Mining-Inspector) was present. •The first witness was Harry Beckett, tho : cnginedriver, who was in charge of No. S ) shaft, whero the accident' occurred. He said M'iiride was skipman and Hyde as-sistant-skipman. He brought M'Bride up on tho skip about -1.25 p.m. The two ; deceased loaded the skip half full with ammunition. As was customary when lowering the goods they put in, about 50 s drills. When *tln> last drill was put on witness Was sitting on the cylinder of the engine. M'Bride asked him to lower the skip _a little, as it was too high. Just as witness turned to do .so the-skip . broke away and went down tho 6haft cn the south side. He saw Hyde standing on~the steel and holding on to somo oi the /long drills. Hyde had one foot on the centre and one on the steel. Witness heard a crack and saw the rope on the drunr rebound buck, and he also saw M'Bride fall down the shaft- Witness said lie had been driving the engine for about eight years. The rope on the south side was put on about; 12 months before last Christmas, and tlic rope on the north side was put on about four months ago. He cou|fd not tell how long a rope should last, 'lhb rope, on the north drum was replaced because strands had started to break. In reply to Mr. Moresby, witness said it was customary for the skip men to use the skip whenever they liked. The milling officials were allowed to use the skip, and'eertain of the 1 employees had a similar .privilege, but the company was responsible for those men. In the latter class were carpenters,' shift bosses, and skip men.. ' During' the eight years- he had been at the mine lie'had never seen tho rope-on tluvskip tested, and he had seen it examined only twice. Ho had not seen theropa oiled or greased' during the last sis months. The breakingstrain of the ropo was 35 tons, and tho working strain 25 tons. In reply to' Mr. Paul, witness, said there was a certain aihount of moisture on the pulley coluiected - with the skip owing to tlie steam-exhaust.' , ■ ' To -ITr. Morgan,. witness sa.id ho had : seen the shift boss give a notice'warning tho men not to ride on the skip, but he had not : seen any such notice at N0... 8 level. He had known' that the men worjeed, in the shaft while winding was going on 1 in the' same shaft.,. There wcro no appliances to-take the weight off the rope attached to th'o skip while it was being loaded. A skip could' be loaded without getting into it, but a man -would have to lean, his -.weight on to it. Mino managers and bosses had been present when men liad gone' down on the skip. To Mr. Clendon: The signals generally recognised were , three rings for material, and four rings for men on the skips. The shaft and gear were under the daily observation of the mine managers, the shift bosses, the engineer, and-, the .enginedriver. He would not swear there were not six notices posted up warning men not'to ride on tho skip. He had no reason to believe the ropo to be unsafe. N The inquest was adjourned for a. fortnight.' , Great interest was taken in the proceedings, the hall being filled all day.