FATAL LIFT ACCIDENT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2471, 26 May 1915, Page 11

FATAL LIFT ACCIDENT

THE INQUEST NO ONE TO BLAME All inquest into the (lonth of Umrgr r Pinnock, proprietor of tlio Columbia . Hotel, who was killed in a lift accident ' on Saturday, was hold yesterday afternoon, before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M Sergeant Wilcocks eoiuhicted tlio inquirj lor the police, and -Mr. T. Young appeared for the oivnora of tlio building, Messrs. Dwan Bros. Sorgeaut Wilcocks, before calling witnesses, said that evidence would bu called to show that the lift was not in working _ order. After tlio accident an electrician from the Power Station was callj ed in, and he got the lift up from the ' body. Ho would be the principal wit- * ness, and had been asked to examine ' tlio lift carefully. The Coroner: Is it suggested that the accident was duo to the lift working badly? Sergeant. Wilcocks: Not altogether, although had the broken pane of glass in the lift well, through which deceased put his head, been in place, the accident would not have happened. The pane of . glass should never have been out. In : the public interest tkoy did not think , that the lift had been managed as it should have been. There should have been someono in charge of the lift. Tho Coroner; I do not think we aro hero to inquiro into that phase of the matter. Mr. Young: It will be shown that Messrs. Lhvan Bros, leased the house two years ago for ten years, to one cf Mr. Pinnock's predecessors, and the lift was in perfect order then. They had had no control since. Harold Geo. Pinnock, a son of the deceased, said that shortly after 2 o'cl&ck Mrs. Pinnock called to him that deceased was caught in the lift. Witness went up to the first floor and found deceased with his head through an aperture in tho lift well. His hend was caught, and the bottom of the lift was crushing dcceased's head against the side. Witness could do nothing to remove tho body till the lift- was raised. Deceased had been in the habit of using that aperture for communicating to the bottom floor. There was no special attendant in charge of tho lift. When boarders used it they asked permission from the office. Witness had on several occasions asked deceased to have a pane of glass put in, but deceased would not allow this to be done. To Mr. Young: Deceased preferred to have the opening, because it was a convenient way for him to comniunieato either up or downstairs. Deceased had never asked, to witness's knowledge, to hav« the glass .repaired. Geo. F. Keen, piano tuner, residing at the Columbia Hotel, said that he bad occasion to use tho lift shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday. He was bringing the lift from tho fourth floor to the ground floor. When he had nearly reached tho first floor he hoard a voice in one of the passages call out-, "Mary!" Directly after that tho lift stopped. He thought that it was jammed in some way, so turned the. lever to neutral, and then to the position which should have taken the lift up again. As tho lift would not move he looked over the top of the partition, and saw deceasod's body and legs, but could not see his head. Ho concluded that deceased must have had his head through an aperturo which he had often noticed, and that the floor of the lift must have had him jammed. He climbed out of the lift and went to the telephone to ring up the doctor and the power house. He could not move the lift. He had used the lift frequently, and had always asked permission to do so from the office. To his knowledge -the lift was working all right last week. To the Coroner: The lift made no noise when descending, but there was a tail rope to the bottom of the lift which would indicate that the lift was descending. . 0. W. Rider, an electrician, and emergency man at the Corporation Power House, gave evidence that ho was called to release tho lift. He went straight lo the top of the lift well, and used the hoisting gear to raise tho lift. This enabled the body to be released. He understood the lift was now in good order. If the pane of glass had not been missing the accident would not have occurred. He examined the switches and fuses, and found them intact and capablo of lifting the lift with the current on. Thos. W. Dwan, one of tho owners of the building, gave evidence that about two years ago Mr; Pinnock bought the remainder of the lease from a previous occupier. Tho lease was originally a ten-year one, and some time had still to go. When they gave the lease the lift was in good order. The tenant was bound to keep it in good order. The broken glass in the lift well was not ieported to him. It would be the tenant's duty to replace it. The verdict was that deceased met his death through his head being accidentally crushorl by the lift on May 22, and that no blame was possibly attachable to anyone. Further the Coroner found, in accordance with the ovidence of the witness Rider, that the lift- was in good order, I l I l Mi 1...1 ,CT~—At the meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society this evening two important papers are set down for reading and discussion. The first, by Mr. B. C. Aston, is on "The Botany of the I Kaikoura Mountains." The second, which will be illustrated by lantern slides, is by I Dr. C. A. Cotton, of Victoria College, His subject is "Fault Coasts." Members are invited to brin? friends with them. Professor T. K. EastHieW has kindlj wsenfed 'to ?ive a public lecture at an early date 011 "Asphyxiating Gases." A notice of the lecture to be delivered to-night before the members of the Wellington Accountant Student-)' Society by Mr. H. P. von Haast, M.A.L.L.8., on "The law Relating to Voluntary Liquidations," appears in another part of this paper. The lecturer has made a special study of this subject, and all interested in ithe lecture are cordially invited to be present.