FELL 105 FEET

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 927, 21 March 1930, Page 13

FELL 105 FEET

INQUEST INTO DEATH OF CARPENTER ADJOURNED TILL TOMORROW Another adjournment was made when an inquest into the death of Ernes-t Frank Rutherford was resumed before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., coroner, this afternoon. Mr. Rutherford fell more than 100 ft from the tower of the new T. and G. Building, Wellesley Street, on March S. The adjournment was made until tomorrow morning so that a copy of the scaffolding regulations could be produced in court as desired by Mr. Tuck, representing the Carpenters’ Union. Mr. Sellars appeared for the T. and G. Insurance Co., and Mr. Milliken for the contractors, J. P. Julian and Sons. An exact model on a scale of an inch to a foot of that part of the building from which the man fell was put in by the contractors. Kenneth Frederick Bawden end Henry Charles Lidgard, both carpenters employed on the building said they were working near Rutherford when he fell. It was about 11.50 a.m. and he was working on the tower. He was adjusting a shutter that was apparently caught by the wind and fell, taking Rutherford with it. There was a parapet about two feet high over which Rutherford fell 105 feet to the street below, striking the scaffolding twice on the way down. “The scaffolding regulations were absolutely complied with,” said Ernest Burchall, scaffolding inspector at Auckland. Witness had inspected the building two days before the accident and also on the morning following, before the men started work. There was no need for scaffolding on that part of the building from which the man fell as it was part of the permanent structure. The inquest was adjourned until 11 a.m. tomorrow.