ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2425, 1 April 1915, Page 6

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES

HOSPITAL REPORT. Mrs. Batten, who was admitted to tho Hospital on Tuesday suffering from injuries to her throat, was reported from tho Hospital last night to be progressing as well as can be expected. AUCKLAND LIFT FATALITY. (By Telecraph.—Press .Association.' Auckland, March 31. The Coroner was engaged to-day inquiring into tho circumstances of the death of Miss Dewes, who was killed on March 26 when stepping out of a lift iu Hobson Buildings. Just as sho put one foot out tho cage suddenly dropped, and slio was caught and crushed between the top of the lift and the bottom of tho doorway, and died almost immediately. The evidence of the lift boy and others in the cage was that tho indicator "was at "off" when the cage began to move, and no one could offer an explanation for the starting of the apparatus. Electricians and mechanics examined tie installation, but could not expTalii the accident. An attendant who has worked the lift at various times described occa* sions on which it had cone out of order. Onco before it dropped, and a man who | was .struck on tho. head had a very narrow escape. A business man who had used the lift for years said it was most erratic. The Government inspector said the lift boy was only sixteen years old, whereas the law provided that he must not be under 18. The inquest was adjourned.