(7)
The 2nd floor of No. 32, Cochrane Street, at the time of the accident, was let to a man whose uame I do not remember. He was a new tenant. The floor was used as a family house. The rent was $22 a month. The tenant of the top floor of No. 32, Cochrane Street, at the time of the accident, was Leung Sam. It was used as a family house. The rent was $26 a month. The Wo Ki bave done work for me before. I made no written contract with the Wo Ki. I agreed with him as to the price. The price was $2,550. This was to be cost of the whole of the alterations. Before I agreed on the price I showed plans B and E to the contractor. I went to see how the work was getting on. Sometimes I went once a day to see the work, sometimes two or three times a day. and sometimes once in a few days. I gave orders to the contractor as to how he should do the work. I handed the plans to the contractor. The alterations were carried out in accordance with these plans. I followed these plans in every detail. I see a new cross wall on the ground floor in Plan E. [ put in an arch instead of the cross wall. I put in the arch to let in the air. The tenant afterwards put up a partition instead of the arch. I did not get permission from the Public Works Department to put in an arch instead of the cross wall. On the section in Plan EI see four brick arches dividing the kitchens from the yard. I did not put in these brick arches. I did not obtain from the Public Works Department permission to disperse with the four brick arches. I also see on Plan E a chimney to the four cook-houses and a chimney stack on the top of the house. I did not build the chimney nor the stack because they were useless. "On the top of the roof of the cock-house on the top floor I put a small house a few feet high in order to go on to the roof. It is only a few feet high, so I did not get permission from the Public Works Department. I have never seen a small recess in the party wall in the ground floor of No. 34, Cochrane Street. In No. 32, Cochrane Street, I made similar deviations from the plans as were made in No. 34, Cochrane Street. In order to build this additional storey it was necessary to raise the party walls. There were three walls. I had to take the coping off these three walls. I had to take off between 1 and 2 feet of the old walls. I saw the
old walls before the additions were made to them. I found the bricks of the old wall to be blue bricks. I examined the old walls carefully. Most of the bricks were whole bricks. Small pieces of bricks were used to fill up. In my opinion the party walls were strong enough to bear the additional floor. After I uncovered the walls I did not call an architect to see if the walls were good or not. When the walls were uncovered I did not see any Government Inspector come and inspect the wall. The ridge of the old roof was across the house. The party wall-the centre was higher than it is at the two ends. I did not take down the top of the party wall until it was level. This applies to all three walls. The bricklayer took out some bricks from out of the wall and put in some new bricks to form the corbelling. The top of the roofs were covered with two layers of Canton tiles. I did not intend to sell these two houses. These alterations were completed in the last decade of the 12th moon (from 8th to 18th February, 1901). I collect my own rents. I go to each floor each month. On the day of the collapse I went to both houses and to each floor.
This was at 4 p.in.
The blacksmith was working at his shop. I did not see any brackets fastened into the wall of the blacksmith's shop. I saw some tables and stools on the verandah of the 1st floor of No. 32, Cochrane Street. I saw this from the street. I saw no cracks or any other sign that the building was in a dangerous condition when I went that afternoon. I took down the front wall sufficiently far in order that I could put in the brackets for the verandah, and built it up again. There were three brackets on the top verandah. The wall was cut down level. I don't remember how much I took down of the back wall.
PUN Wo declared and examined by Mr. BowLEY :——-
was
I am contractor, carrying on business as the Wo Ki. My shop is at 3, Sing Wong Street. I have no partners. I am 36 years of
I I have been carrying on the Wo Ki for 11 or 12 age.
years. formerly an apprentice bricklayer. Chan Chün Cheung employed me last year to do some alterations to No. 32 and No. 34, Cochrane Street. I agreed with him as to the price. The price was $2,350. Before agreeing on the price I saw the plans. I understand an English plan. In Plan B the follow- ing is the new work :-A new cross wall including foundations; to take down the old roof and raise the party wall to put on the beans of the third floor; to build up the front wall: to build in the brackets with cement; to build two new door frames in the front wall; to put a new roof on n; the roof was to be covered with flat tiles; to take down two cross walls in each house; to take down the old cook-houses and build 8 new cook-houses; to build a wall with arches in it between the cook-houses and the yard, the last mentioned walls would require foundations. The cross wall on the ground storey in the plan is 14 inches but I built it 18 inches. There is a difference between the plans of No. 32 and No. 34, Cochrane Street. In No. 32 the internal cross wall shows one arch on the ground floor and two windows on each of the upper floors. In No. 34 there is an arch on each floor. On each plan there is shown a new chimney and a stack. The work on these two houses was one job. I did the whole work myself. I employed the bricklayers, carpenters and blacksmiths. I superin- tended the work myself. I only had these two plans to go by. I had no copy of plan C. I did the work according to the old verandah. The old party wall went up to a point in the centre. I had to take off the coping. I did not take down the party wall until it became level. The junction between the new work and the old was on a slope. I made the new bricks fit into the old bricks. In laying bricks I do not make one brick cover the other-the different joints should be covered with