CRUSHED TO DEATH

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 33, 1 October 1931, Page 4

CRUSHED TO DEATH

MOUREA FATALITY INQUEST IN TO DEATH OF MAORI MILL WORKER. "SHOULD HAVE STOOD CLEAR." After hearin^ evidence .showing the circUmstanpes surrounding the weath of Keepa Te Piki, the Maori mill-worker who was killed at Mourea last Friday when loading logs on to a barge, the Coroner, Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M-, stated that although the accident h'ad been caused by the unforeseen slipping of a log, the deceased could hqye rendered his position safe by standing clear before the log w'as moved. "There seems to have been nothing wrong with the method of loading adopted," said his Worship. "The gear was also in good order. The accident was due to an unforeseen slip of the log." However, the deceased could have been perfectly safe if he had stood clear before they started fo move the log. Prob'ably, however, he had no thought of the possibility of the log slipping." Evidence was given hy three of deceased's fellow workers, who were all members of a gang of Maori workers loading timber near Hongi's Track, that while the rope on a large log was being moved to a different position, the log slipped off the choclcs which were holding it in position and crushed Te Piki. The deceased suffered very serious injuries and died from shock while heing conveyed by launch to Mourea settlement. Died from Shock. Dr. S. H. Hay, giving medical evidence, said that when he was called to Mourea, the deceased was already dead. He had suffered a broken pelvis, the fracture of both thighs, and a large compound fracture of the lower right leg, Death was due to shock, follow^ue,• these im'nries.

One of the companions of the deceased at the time of the accident, Tiakiawa Tahuriorangi, said that with deceased he was one of a gang of men engaged in loading logs for the Rotoiti Timber Company on the lake. They had loaded only four logs when the accident occurred. Te Piki jpnior, deceased's son, was in the baige, witness was standing by, a man named Walker was working the winch, and- deceased, who was foreman of the gang, was directing operations. They had slung a rope round a log and had rested it for a moment with chocks underneath it, when it slipped and swung back, to strike the deceased. Te Piki, at the time, was moving the rope along the log, from one end to the middle. He could not have stood in any other position to carry out this operation. "By Bad Luck." Tahuriorangi said that just before the accident, he noticed the deceased give the signal to the winehman to swing the log. Te Piki did not speak. after the accident and although they endeavoured to rush him to Mourea hy launch, he died en route. Asked whether he could devise any safer method for loading the logs, the witness said that he could not do so. It was only by bad luck, he said, that Te Piki was struck, as two other members of the gang, including the- witness, had stood in the same position. The log had slipped from the chocks very quickly and caught him before he could move. Another member of the gang, Mokiha Mihaka, corroborated Tahuriorangi's account of the accident. He said that two chocks had been put underneath the log and the line from the winch had been slackened while it was being moved from one end to the centreof the log. It was while this was being done and before the rope took the weight that the log slipped back and crushed the deceased. A third Maori, Tommy Walker, said that he was operating the winch at the time of the accident. He was signalled to slacken off the rope while the strop was being moved and then the deceased signalled him again to tighten up. The winch was in second gear, but just as he commenced to tighten the rope, the accident occurred. It was not due to any defect in the tackle or the rope. Should Have Stood Clear. The manager of the Rotoiti Timber Company, William Mear, said that the deceased had been in the employ of the company for a number of years. Te Piki was a very experieneed man at this class of work and was foreman of the gang. By means of a number of small pieces of wood the witness explained the process of loading the logs, He considered the gang was using the ordinary methods in swinging the logs, but in his opinion the deceased should have stood clear before the log was moved. There was no reason why Te Piki should not have stood clear. He appeared to have placed himself in the bight of the log which was lying across the heap on a slant. The result was that when the log slipped back, it caught him in this position. The Coroper returned a verdict in accordance with the evidence, to the effeet that Te Piki died from injuries received when he was crushed while loading logs on to a barge.