ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4980, 9 March 1877, Page 3

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

The jpry'at'itha inquest on the body of a man f killed • by the recent, accident'atthe ini * dine contract .fbrind-p.ThM ! 'tEb 'deceased Daniel McCaUylJu 1 ' diea'Tjy the accidental tally tmr in'of a portion of ! a tunnel in which he was working;” andadded thefollqwingridor;—“The jury express their opinion -that :i the 'inode adopted in ithe conattnction.ihfi .the' tiihber lining of the tuhnel by.the subcontractor,* Mr. : Price,i» faulty, and that ho should feel himself bound to adopt the system-designed by M* Bath as sodu as possible.” I i* , ' < ; A Very painful accident happened to a Mr. Hughes on February lOth on the Hurt road, between Nghauranga'and Kaiwarra. I He was ridiDgion ‘ a 'horse,' in company.'with, a lady, ; and returning from the races, Whenhe'was suddenly thrown off, and the hook' attached to his arm, from which the wristwaasomotime: eincef-severed; caught in the reins, and he was dragged for a short distance along the ground.; He was picked ’up by Hr. Lingard, Who happened to be there at the time,'and Who put the unfortunate maninto his trap and drovo.him to the Hospital There Hughes ,Waa attended to by- Dra. Johnston and Bradford.. His leg was ifonnd-to be, broken,; and generally •much braised, as may well be imagined. How >be etteaped'sustaining.greater injury ( ia; indeed. a wonder. On making enquiries at the Hospjtal onSuaday bur reporter learnt .that Hughes .was doing as well as could be expected, feeing the nature of,the.injuriestreoeired. ~ , ;■ A.sertons accident occurred at dhe Government Buildingson; the 9th February. Hugh ■ Curty, a messenger, ’ was. ascending from the ground ; floor in the. hydraulic; press, and it is supposed that when be reached the second story he attempted to get off, not, having first stopped the lift, in consequence of which his 1 legs got jammed between the machine and the . 'oodwork of the floor.' With some difficulty - ,£-was extricated, after a portion of the frame - a’tthe side had been broken away to allow of his release. Dr. Kemp, who was quickly in attendance, did all, he could to alleviate the poor man’s sufferings. His left thigh was found to be broken, and his right leg, also appeared inuch injurcd, although, so great was the swelling,, s the exact nature of the injury Could not be at once pronounced. Curry was subsequently taken to, the,,(Hospital And attended by Dr, Bradford. A rather serious accident happened to a lad,, son of Mr. Thomas Reid, on Feb. 25, It appears that he was sent, out to Karori for a horse, and while coming home, and when near the gardens, the horse bolted. The boy held on for about a mile, wheu the horse stumbled, and the boy was thrown on his head. He lay insensible for

fnUy aubour';. Some, men who were cerifbng by then brought him to towu. He w - tended .by Dr. Bradford,, who discovered a nasty cuLou, the back of the poor fellow s head ; hut he was not dangerously injured; Surely this is the abouleut season. We hare -to record another 'fatal occurrence following quickly on the terrible event- which occurred early on'Satnrday, February 21. ■ OnSunday • the police received a telegram: from l eather, ston to this effect Price s tunneLfell in on Saturday. Two men buried. Will bringbodies here to-day.” Subsequently another tele-ram was received as,follows:—* Names of men buried; in Price’s ; tunnel, MqCullam and ■ Marshall. , Marshall’s body npt.yetdiscoyered. An inquest wifi be, hpld ...to-morrow.’ The time at. which . the . latter telegram was re-i ceived was 5.15 ,p.m, !IL I.t . appears, tliat one of the men was foreman, we dq not know which, and the two went into the tunnel for the purpose of ascertaining whether everything was secure, and'the earth fell whilst they there. The tunnel is known as the incline tunnel on the northern slope of the Rimutaka. '

: • At the Morgue on Feb. 17th an inquest was held on the body of John Olsen, who lost his life on board the Himalaya. Captain Grant was the first witness 'called, but his evidence threw little or no light on the occurrence. He knew nothing of the matter ■ until the doctor reported that the man was dead.—Win. Hayes, the boatswain, deposed that deceased was the first to give the alarm, at about half-past one or two o’clock, stating that he saw the smoke coming through 5 the hatch. Witness . saw. nothing of- deceased after that until he saw him in the hold dead. He, with the assistance of others, hauled the body to the deck. It. was not known that he was dead until after being placed on the depk, arid every endeavor was made to resuscitate him. Immediately after the hold was opened, a boy was stationed there, and he did not see deceased fall down,—Dr. Diver was the next witness. He. stated , that he was called ,to the scene of the, fire, and examined the body, which was quite cold when he arrived ,at abdnt 5 o’clock. There were no marks on it to indicate a severe fall, or violence of any kind. Though he had not made a post mortem examination, he, was of opinion, that ,the deceased was • smothered by the , smoke in the hold-—Wm. Palmer, one, of the crew; of the Himalaya, said he saw deoeased, who was perfectly sober, during the time' of the fire. ' He saiy him' between 2' and 3 o’clock. It was the opinion of this witness that deceased must haye fallen down the hold., , But the captain made a statement afterwards, from which it appeared that it was possible to reach the hold another way, viz., by the companion. The jury returned a verdict of “ Accidental death, being of opinion that deceased died from suffocation.

At halLpast nine on the night of the 18th the TeAro fi rebell gavethe'alarm, and shortly afterwards a light accompanied by a quantity of smoke was seen in the direction, of a block of buildings belonging to Mr. Waring Taylor. A crowd of people soon 1 collected there, and it was found that a shed rented by a Mr. Barnard, and formerly used as a’ skating rink, was in flames, the fire; having; taken a firin' hold of it. , the wharf,' which accbiints for the' fact of the flames haying' made so much’ (progress-' 'bythetime the Te Aro bell was(agitated. ' The'V5 r ellington Brigade was promptly on the - sprit, » n 4‘ soon had the hose Connected arid the'water playing on the fire 'ahd 'making, a visible-im-pression. The Centrals a few .minutes afterwards came np, and rendered valuable assistance. The house in front of the'shed (also the' property of' Mr. Taylor) was occupied by Mr. Bruce, and the furniture was taken out, as well as the window sashes in front.' At one tijrie them appeared a great chance of Messrs. ’ (Mace and Arkell’s-,bottling store taking fire, which it undoubtedly would have done but for the i exertions of' the fire brigades ; and; Mr.George Crawford's store, o« the opposite-side, pccripied a critical position. ' The timber in! the shed which caught fire was old and very dryland it burned' fiercely ; but there being a good Supply of water, the flames were beaten down 'within a quarter 1 of an hour from the arrival of the firemen with’ their appliances,' It was a fortunate circumstance that Mr. Bruce’s dwelling-house-was not' consumed, it being so near- the shed in the rear. There are, few localities in the city more favorable to the spread of fire than that in which the occurrence: spoken of took place-last night, and the owners ' of valuable property in stores there have reason to congratulate themselves that they sustained no loss. The fire was confined to the skating rink. There is no knowing-how it arose, and as in the case of' a great inariy fires that have occurred, its origin- will probably remain a mystery. " ' •'■ •*■ ■