THE VERANDAH TRAGEDY INQUEST
BLACK SMITH AND FOREMAN
GIVE EVIDENCE
THE
"IRON WORK
SUPERVISION
"
AND ITS
Further evidence was taken in the Yuk Sau Street Balcony Collapse Inquiry which entered upon its seventh hearing at the Central Magistracy yesterday. The prin cipal witnesses called "included the man who had charge of all the iron work and also the contractor's foreman, A number of interesting points were revealed during the afternoon and it was stated that the inquiry would be continued this afternoon,
Mr. W. Schofield sat is Coroner assisted by a jury com. prising Messrs. R. A. Rodgers (furemen) Li Koon Chun and A. C. Little.
Mr. F. C. Jenkin, K., instruct- "ed by Messrs. Woo and Nush, ap- peared for the contractors who bailt the house, Mr. M. K. Lore reacated the owner of the house and Mr. H. J. Armstrong appeared for Mr. A. J. Lane, the architect.
The first witness called when the inquiry was resumed was Lo Fuk, proprietor of the Le Fuk Sing shop, who said that he was a aub. Lontracter to the Wang Tak con-
over the beam. Witness added that ho kopt the rods in place with wooden chocks while the inner ends of the rods were supported with smaller atones.
Do you understand" why balcony rods have to be supported four inches high i-Yes, so that they can stand the tension of the weight. If they were fixed to the bottom the balcony would collapse. Witness
added that whenever he finished
any steel work, he would ask the
architect to inspect it.
What architect came to inspect the balcony roda 1-Mr. Tong, the owner's foreman, Chan Yin and Wang Tak's foreman.
Anybody else --I mostly saw Mr. Toog.
tractors, who were engaged on the building in No 15, Yuk, Sau Street, in 1931. He supplied the labour" but he saw the laying of the concrete. He also saw the balcony at the start of the concrete laying, but he could not state how it was done, as four of the owner's foremen were present, and gave in- structions to his men, regading the work. The foremon poked at the concrete with wooden poles and the ; after one lob of rods had been pass- Continuing, witness said thab pking was to solidify it. He died by the architekt, he would go on no nderstand anything of iron to work on the next lot. work.
The owner had four foremen and these meri supervised all the work i cluding the laying of the irons, but they never spoke to him about the iron work nor did they interfere with him in any way at all.
Opening the cross-examination. Mr. Jenkin asked: You are pro prietor of the La Fuk Sing?-Yes, for the past. 17 years
During that period you have dude this class of work for all the leading. Fontractors in the Colour?jno questions to put to the witness, Mr. Jenkin intimating that he had -YPX.
Mr. Armstrong opened the crow examination.
Did you know Mr.. Lane either personally or by sight I knew hia when I saw him. nt the site.
How often did you see him on the works-I remember seeing him once when the site was levelled, and again when the work was uearly completed. I saw him alto gether twice.
Did you know a man called Char Yin-Yes. He was the architect's Toreman..
Waq be on the, work a good deal? -Yes.
During the filing in a conerets was his there -Yes
All the time I always saw him whenever I was there..
Would the work of laying eo crete on the balcony involve any kind of walking over the bars 7-1 does not involve any walking over the bark
Mr. Armstrong: Did you see the owner's distance hetween the rods after you foremen measuring the had laid them 1--No.
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, THURSDAY, JULY 13, 1933
AT ICHANG
A Big Fire
RIVER'S 8 KNOT CURRENT
(From Our Own Correspondent)
PETROL PRICE DROP
Boon To Local Motorists
EXCHANGE SAID TO BE RESPONSIBLE
ICHANG, June 30. The river rose suddenly at the beginning of the week, the water- mark reaching just over 40 ft. The price of petrol in Hongkong This meant about an eight knot-Bacony, Shell and Texaco drop current and anchorage in the harped yesterday morning from $1.30 bour became unsafe. The anchors per gallon to #1.03. This ia a dis either drag, or are quickly buried tinct boon to motorists and the in the tons of silt that flows price reduction came as a welcome down. Many anchora not constant surprise. ly "sighted" have been lost in Officials of the companies con this way.
Gunboats and merch-cerned, interviewed by a Daily ant vessels moved down to there representative yesterday atat Socony Installation where water ised that there was no other reason slacker.
for the local drop in price except that cable instructions to reduce it were received yesterday.
CENTRAL THEATRE'S
SAFETY CURTAIN
MATTER AGAIN BEFORE
Lt.
THE COURT
Appearing on behalf of Mr. 0.
Chung, M: Hin Shing Lo yesterday objected to fresh eum- management of Central Theatre monses being taken against the for failure to provide a safety our tain,
taken out on June 25, and an ad- The summonses wate originally journment granted by the Magistrate in or die had been' der that negotiations between the owner and the Fire Brigade au- thorities might be satisfactorily concluded, Fresh summonses were, however, issued yesterday, and Mr.
One party told our reporter that being on the "ground of the
Lo made two objections, the first petrol prices had firmed up in the vious adjournment sine die. United States and that there was the second on the ground that the pre- no explanation for the reduction, atructural features of the thentre and except perhaps that exchange had made it impossible to turned very much in our favour safety curtain, and some other recently. If the exchange remain course would have to be resorted instal a ed as it is now, there will probably to be no increase in petrol price for some time to come.
Saturday 24th was a sweltering hot day, but the night was hot ter, for nt 3 4.M. on Sunday morning a tremendous blaze broke forth. There was a solid square of several hundred yards of fame, some hundreds of homes were de stroyed. On the one side was the Church of Scotland Mission Hos pital and on the other the China Inland Mission, but the fire did not touch either of these, beyond showers of sparks which were 500 had reduced their price on the that negotiations might be
Mr. Schofield adjourned the case Asked why all three companies for another two weeks in extinguished Tae offlera's noted
order promptly and splendidly. Imme- same morning. our reporter was tinued between the owner and the diately police and military barred told that "we keep a sharp lock Fire Brigade and P.W.D. authori the way 80 that no
sightseers out locally and have to reduce our ties... kept clear for water could get near, and the way was prices at a moment's notice, to Several tens of antiquated fire en-
face all competitors ! ?? gines were at work and did ex- cellent work in keeping the fire within bounds, the Bremen work: ing like trojans with the pumps. It was the finest bit of fire bri- gade work the writer, who has been 33 years in Ichang, has ever seen here.
Carriers.
PICNIC LAUNCH GOES ASHORE
GAP ROAD SCHOOL CHILDREN ON BOARD.
About 120 children from Gap Road School had "ap adventure" on Tuesday afternoon when the launch in which they were going to Chin Yee Island for a picnic was carried into shallow water and stranded.
shorlty after two o'clock aboard
The party left Wanchai pier the Hau Hoi and when off Tsun
WHAT IS LEGAL CRUELTY?"
WIFE'S INSISTENCE ON SEPARATION
INDIANS IN MALAYA
REPATRIATION OF LABOURERS CRITICISED
MALACCA, July 4,
Under the auspices of the Malac- Judgment was reserved, say the a public lecture by Dr. Lanks Sur- CA Chettiar Chamber of "Commerce Singapore Free Press, in the Court durato, M.A., Ph. D. (London) on of appeal recently in the appeal Indians Overseas" was delivered of Mr. Annie Cresson against the
rejection by Mr. Justice Terrell of at the High School Hall. Dr. Sun- her petition for judicial separa-daram said that he was neither a tion from her husband, Marius missionary nor a Coinmunist but he cruelty and threats. Creason, on grounds of persistent came to Malaya specially to study the life of Indians overseas as in- that the judge had not take a suffi- data to bring about a healthy 'at- The grounds of the appeal wera timately as possible and collect ciently wide interpretation of what hosphere constituted legal cruelty, and that
between
Ladin Rud be had not given due weight to the evidence of three of the witnesses for Mrs. Cresson.
alaya.
Emigrants from India.
dent bad, argued that the right Indian emigration to all parts of Mr. F. G. Vaux, for the respon He dwelt on the genesis of the
Did you ever see Mr. Tongt doing Wan about two hours later the and proper definition of cruelty in the world, mentioning the fact that!
that 7-Yes.
Do you lay the expansion steel Below, on top or below the balcony steel 1-
None of the hooks at the ends were pointing upwards-None of chein.
On the balconies which have been opened up, the hooks were either laying flat or pointing up I cannot explain it. wards, can you account for that --
The wooden chocks in the balcony, are they fixed to the balcony board. ing in any way 1-No, they were just ex-laying loose
This concluded Mr. Jenkin's amination and Mr. Lo then asked the following questions:-
Mr. Lo: Did you hear the owners giving instructions to the Foki-Certainly I did...
Ramming Down the Concrete.
How often-Very often.
And you say you saw them us wooden poles to ram down the con creta?-Yes,
You remember what time in the day the balconies were concreted ?-- They kept ramming as the pouring
of the concrete was going on.
Yes, I am only talking about the ramming of the balconies !-I can not remember at what time it was done.
Do you remember clearly if this ramning was done on the balconies i
Yes.
And you visited the place about, three times a day after the work had started-Yca.
—
.
vessel was taken by a strong cur rent into shallow water 200 yards in coming to his decision, and he called "Samy," in Malaya "Kling" law had been taken by the judge Enst Africa the Indians were, from the shore."
Sampans were signalled for and judgment which proved abundant-where Indians are to be found, they also pointed out passages in the and that in each part of the world: the children were taken ashore.ly that the three witnesses mention were given a local They later returned Kong by the Taun Wan ferry boat, i consideration in the judgment.
to Honged had been properly taken into dians were to be respected, they No serious damage was dan to the launch, which belongs to the Chan Fa Company.
INDIANS AND THEIR SMOKES
TWO MEN BEFORE
MAGISTRATE.
Од а
Wife's Obligations.
"T
Immigration in Malaya was not hunianising as was promised. Toddy in Malaya was a govern- ment, monopoly, but such was not the case elsewhere.
To-day there
Dome. If Fu.
should uphold the dignity of In- dia. He realised that the paths, of Indians oversens were not strewn Mr. Braddell, he said, had re with roses but India could never ferred to the position of the wofind a place amongest the nations of man if she accompanied her hus the world, let alone find a status band to Jersey, and had "to live of equality, unless and until they in a strange land away from all consolidated their position. her friends and the places she knew and had been brought up in. would like," he said, "to draw at tention to the position if you were to allow a judicial. separation.
"These parties were married in 1899 and have lived together for was a great clamour for the re
was in the position more or less said by the planting community to 33 years or so. We have evidence opening in Malacca of the toddy that, when she married, this lady shops, the absence of which was of a pauper. I only point out this open venues for the buying of illi to show the position of this lady samsu. The tolerant resuscita pondent.
of their morality and sturdiness. holy conspiracy by the non-tem perate to deprive the labour force
How thick are the hanging barst About one-fifth of an inch thick. They would not then carry much weight --No.
Mr. Lo was very brief in his dutiable tobacco at No. 14 Anton charge of having sold cross-examination, asking the wit Street, and with having one pound ness only one or two questions, of dutiable Chinese tobacco in His first one was whether it was their possession, two Indians were when she was married to the restion of the toddy shope was an not the work of the contractor to summoned before. 'Mr. Schofield see to the propping up of the steel, with wooden chocks. Witness re- plied that the contractor did put in 'the wooden chocks.
yesterday.
ਸਮਰ
Revenue Officer Grimmitt said and his protection for a matter of "He gave her a home, a position the S. I. E. had asked that a serious view be taken of the cast, has accepted, and if the position over thirty years. These things ahe Foreman of the Jury: We wish amuggling was going on.
a large amount of tobacco to know whether the witness under tobacco came from Shanghai and these advantages from him, and she
India Colonisatioz, in the home has become intolerable The it is her own fault. She accepted stands drawings.
Millions of dollars had been was brought by guards on ships, must have known, marrying aspent on the immigration and re and used by Mohammedans. for chewing. It meant a great loss to European, that the time ward atriation of Indian labour by the the revenue of the Colony.
come when his period of service rubber and tin industries but the defendant, and fired the second likely to go back to the ellimate of tion of these people than to have Mr. Schofield discharged first retirement he would desire most be better utilised in the colonisa- would come to an end, and on his colosical expenditure could have
defendant 850 on the first court the land of his birth: and 83 on the second.
allowed them to return to India "Having entered into the con-m making them destitute. The tract with, we must dagume, this human problem had, undoubtedly knowledge, she takes, the advant been neglected. The type of labour ages for thirty years and is un that was obtaining in Malaya was willing to separate herself from her not the right type. own country of origin when the time for her husband's retirement
The Coroner then put the ques tion to the witness who replied that he understood the diagram and although he could not read English, be knew the cumbers and figures.
The Contractor's Foreman.
So Ki was the next man to go into the box. He said that he was the contractor's (Wang Take) fore man and he spent the whole of his working hours inspecting the build
h4.
PUBLIC MISCHIEF
Did you tell the contractor what Sou saw -No. The owner's foreings in Yuk Sau Street and Village UNUSUAL CHARGE BROUGHT arrives.
inen had power to do the work.
Reexamining witness, Mr. Jen kin naked: Were three of your men dismissed at the request of the owner's foremen ?—Yes,
The Man Who Placed the, Rods,
Road. So far as the pouring in ol the cement was concerned witness said, he did sea the beginning of it but he was too busy to watch the whole of the operations.
The man
INTO COURT.
men-
Singapore had sixty-four. Indian associations. None of these had. This Revolver Incident:
raised a voice in respect of the Hindu Marriage Ordinance and An umbrella repairer figured in draws near she begins to complain pressed the opinion that if each of "And moreover when the time relative important matters. He ex- an unusual case which was Mr. Schofield: Besides yourself, yesterday.
tioned before Mr. Wynne Jones
of a number of assaults, all of a these associations had submitted a" who was superintending the work 1
fairly recent nature, one in memorandum to him, he would, if A European architect and also Mr."effecting a publio mischief by the revolver to show that she a basket. He did not mind the exis.
and thred in 1932. was charged with
There is the he were Sir Cecil. Clementi, have evidence of the broken handle of them thrown into the waste paper The next witness called was Ho
Tong.
causing officers of the District tended to avoid ber clear duty as Wai, a blacksmith's foreman, whe How often did Mr. Tonggo said that he did most of the iron there -Sometimes every three days services on the investigations of fore. She collected this evidence the creation of one central body to Watch Force to devote time and
tence of the sixty-four assentions a wife for some long period be separately but he should like to see work at 13 and 15, Yuk Sau Street, and sometimes every eight or ten false allegations, thereby tempor- against him. She now comes His work included that on the eon. days. crete rods. He was mainly con:
arily depriving the public of the
tu voice their grievances more weigh- corned with the fastening of the How many times did you see the ing one Chow Mo Ning liable to made to keep up two establishments
services of the officers and render-court and complains that her hustily,
band wishes to retire and must be iron rods and he remembered the European therot-I saw him there suspicion, accusation and arrest." construction of the first and second when the foundation was being laid The charge, brought under Com-and support for her own benefit and again when the foundation of mon Law, is said to be the first
in this coun.y.” the column was being laid, then. of its nature in the Colony. Mr. Schofield: Do you remember again when the brick work was Detective Sub Insp.
you arranged the rods for the being started and once more when said that Det-Inspector Elaton was rather interesting case from the conies-1--Yes.
the building was nearly done.
The hearing was adjourned until for 48 hours' remand
in charge of the case, and asked legal viewpoint, I think.
Husbands: I'm tired of hor to-day.
Hearing was fixed for tomorrow sweetheart always getting the best Mr. Wynne-Jones-It will be, a ab 11.45 0.
food,
floors.
w did you arrange them 1-Ac- ing to the pike, I had them
McEven
"
Wife: What do you mean by telling the maid that she and her sweetheart could have meals with
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