THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT AT WAIPUKURAU.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3674, 24 April 1883, Page 3

THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT AT WAIPUKURAU.

[To the Editor op the Daily Telegraph.] Sir, —Iv reference to the late fatal accident at the Waipukurau suav mill, alloAV me to make known a few facts gathered from ray experience of the last eighteen months of saw-mills. As it may have tho effect of preventing a similar fatality in the future, I deem it my duty to make it public, From the evidence adduced at the inquest it appears the saAVs Avere running at tho time the unfortunate man Avas setting the log in position for cutting-. Now, the saAVS running- out of a log is the most dangerous part ( of saAV-mill Avork, and they should not be allowed to be in motion except when actually engaged in cutting a log. I am informed there is a loose pully on the saw spindle, but it Avas in bad order, and kept the saAvs running when the belt was thrown on it. I do not knoAV the size of the pully, but think it is a small one,

say lGin. in diameter, and the smaller the pullies the greater the friction on account of the speed, therefore a small loose pully has a greater tendency to keep the saw running. And if it is the casting simply bored out it will not answer. Cast iron does not do to run on a spindle at a high speed ; it is of too gritty a nature, and quickly wears away the arbor hole unequally ; the flanges of the pullies then come together in places as it is running, and it is impossible to make them work well. It is easy to point out how such accidents can be avoided : simply take off the loose pully, send it to a lathe and have it bored out, say fin. larger than the spindle, and fill in with Babbett's patent metal. It will then work for years smoothly and well. If it wears out fill up again—a very simple matter. Larger pullies, say 2-1 to 30m iv diameter, on account of the slower speed, work better, last longer, and arc far safer. Some of the evidence given at the inquest (if correctly reported) is simply nonsense. For instance, one witness says a man need not be nearer than 10ft. from the saw. Now, logs are often cut that aro quite as long as the table, and how is a man to set it 10ft. away. The screen business is also the idea of unpractical men ; there is no need for it if the loose pully is put in order. If they had recommended a break or lever to be fixed under the table, and to work against the side of the saw, it might have answered the purpose for a time. I have done this several times when my pully has not worked well. I would network a bench with the saws running, and where I would not work myself. I should not put a man who did not know his danger. These benches are always wet with the water from the saws, and of course a man must use a crowbar at the end of the log. Now, suppose a man has a bar, say 5 feet long, and is working with his back to tho saws, as he must do, and takes a pinch at a log, the bar always slips (if not at one part of'the lift it does at another), and the man is on the saws in an instant without the least chance of saving himself. It is quite bad enough to fall on a stationary saw, as I know from experience, but to fall on a saw when running is a, horrible thing to think of. Acoidents will happen, but this one should not. Ido not consider it au accident for which no one was to bo blamed, _ as with proper care it could have been avoided. —I am, kc, Loose Pully. April 21, 1883.