THE COCHRANE STREET COLLAPSE.
THE ENQUIRY REOPENED.
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1901.
the walls, and did not even plumb them except with his' eye." He did not cut into them to ascertain their solidity-he simply looked at them. Then along came the draughtsman to'
of his valuable time there, and took three measure the houses. He spent fifteen minutes
each floor. From these, three measurements measurements-breadth, depik, and height of
he drew up the elaborate plans that have been produced in Court, each of them absolutely spent in each house, was thirty five minutes. incorrect in several respects. The time he The plans were made out containing mislead
Intimations.
DOUGLAS STEAMSHIP COMPANY, LIMITED
THE HOLDERS in the above Company will
The TRANSFER BOOKS of the Company instant, both Days inclusive.
DOUGLAS LAPRAIK & Co., General Managers. Hongkong, 18th September, 1001.
[Toge
UNION INSURANCE SOCIETY OF CANTON, LIMITED.
NOTION TO SHAREHOLDERS.
NOTICE is hereby given that the IN
TWENTY-EIGHTH ORDINARY held at the HEAD OFFICE. No. 1, Queen's YEARLY MEETING of the SOCIETY will be
10th October, 1901, at Noon, for the purpose Buildings, Hongkong, on THURSDAY, the of receiving the Report of the Directors to gether with the Statements of Accounts, for the 30th tune, 190, and of declaring Divi- the year too and for the half-year ending
donds, etc.
The TRANSFER BOOKS of the Society will be CLOSEU frein the gath September to 19th October, bath Days inclusive.
By Order of the Board,
W. J. SAUNDERS, Secretary. Hongkong, 19th September, ro1.
NOTICE.
[10330
was Mr. Hazeland, who was engaged nearly walls were strong enough The architect, all his time upon Building. Ordinance work, though he must have known the cond tion Mr. Ormsby atted to my work maintenance of buildings in the Colony, and thing he of buildings apit telegraphs in the New Terri had warning by the many collapses that had tory, -11 was on leave at home in the Autumn previnusly occurred, thought it sufficient to After the adjournment for tiffin yesterday My staff was then one assistant engineer, had no instructions to make a careful examina
"HEORDINARY MEETING of SHARE- of 1893, and returned in December, 1899. send an overseer to look after the matter. He the examination of Mr. Tooker was pro-two overseers of roads, four
be held at the Company's Office on SATUR ceeded with. He said: In houses built on of buildings, one overseer of the Cemetery, walls. The overseer went there and spentgers, together with a Statement of Accounts to overseerstion of the building, but simply to look at the DAY, the 28th instant, at Noon, for the purpose of receiving the Report of the General Mana® the slope I would not expect to find the founda- one overseer for the Recreation Ground, and a twenty minutes in each house. tions at an average depth of six inches below few native foremen. The principal overseer thought to look at the foundations, or even to
He never 30th June, 1901. the floor level. It.is usual in subunitting plans of Government buildings, Mr. Gowenlock, scrape away the whitewash from any part of will be CLOSED from the 23rd to the 28th to show the existing work as well as the in-resigned in June, 1900, and the vacancy was tended new work in cases of alterations and not filled up till the 1st November of the same additions. The plans do not show what work year, when an assistant overseer was appointed exived before the alterations, and there is locally. In October, 1900o, the principal over nothing to show that there was originally a seer for tunds went home on sick leave, and couple of cross walls in these houses. That is died on the passage. His place was not filled n very important omission. There is nothing up until the other day and I was left with one in the plan to show the staircases were to be overseer for roads and telegraphs in the removed Plan E. shows no staircases at all. Colony, and for telegraphs in the New Terri- and there are no foundations shown for the new internal cross-wall. The removal of the staircase an assistant oversees, who was a sick man tory until the beginning of rear, when I had would probably tend to weaken the party wall and could do very little. He was taken away No detail drawings of the verandah for No. 34 at the end of February, 1991, and I was again Cochrane Street have been submitted to my left with one overseer for roads and telegraphsing information, and leaving out some very department, and that was the reason why Mr. until about the middle of the year, when I got important information that should have been Crisp was sent to Cochrane' Street in May. the assistance of Mr. Carrot, who was-former- included.. The plans do not show, there were The owner did not sign the agreement with ly overseer for the mainte-ance of sewers. respect to the verandah, I read an article in the He worked with me for about a month when no foundatons whatever except to the new wall. two old cross-walls that had to come down, and China Mail in Augusi, 1899, relating to jerry he got sick and had to go home on leave. The height of the wall itself is mere guess:rk, -building in Hringkong. It gave sise to a con.
am again left with pae overseer for roads and and in one plan no staircases are shown at all., siderable amount of discussion, but I was telegraphs, though just recently another over- These plans are thought to be sufficient to pass at in the Colony at the time, though seer was appointed for roads, and two more the Public Works Department,and they are sent afterwards saw the article., 1. beard there had Portuguese foremen.
up, and after a cursory glance by that very been several collapses while I was away
much overworked official-the Executive En- on leave. Ever since. I have been in the
gineer under the Building Ordinance, they are. Colony there have been collapses occasionally,
sent to the M. O. H. whose enly duty is to And knowing that fact; why did you pass
find out whether the height of the wall is these plans -Most of the collapses were dur
in correct proportion to the width of the to the typhon, We could have told the
street. He does. his duty. An overseer is architect to open the foundation. In theory
sent to measure the street-not to inspect the that is all right.
building, and ascertain whether they are fit to be built upon When this purely routine work has been finished the Director of Public Works, or, rather Mr. Tooker on his behalf, issued a permit to the effect that notice has been received that the owner intends to re-build, | . - and so on. It has been pointed out that the
Public Works a very wide discretion, and I Building Ordinance gives the Director of
submit that the whole object of the Ordinance is to protect the public. It is the duty of the D. P.-W. to see that works comply with the Ordinance. Under Section 72, as amended, any alteration or addition to existing buildings must comply with the Ordinance, and it has
amongst other things, that-walls-should be been pointed out that the Ordinance requires,
built solid, of good bricks, properly bonded together, with the lower storey, of the building of red brick with satisfactory foundations. No one in the Public Works Department thinks it necessary to see whether these requirements have been fulfilled. From the Beginning to end of these transactions no one ever thought. of looking at the foundations. In this case
they might have done, ns in a recent case. No one opened the brick wall. With all this
I
Was there anything to compel you to sign these permits? We were bound to approve of the plans unless we knew the buildings were not in agcortkunce with the Building Ordinance. You might have said "we have not time to approve them??—I 'on't think that would have been an excuse under the Ordinance.
Is there anything in the Ordinance that says you must approve of plans within a certain time ? No.
You have seen the buildings lately?—Yes.
Mr. Bowley-When Mr. Crisp arrived Mr. Xavier gave up all his duties under the Build ing Ordinance ?—Yes.
Why was that done?-Mr. Ormsby told him to do it.
"
Hon. W. Chatham, Acting Director of Public Works, said was away from the Colony from May, 190 antil, March, 1991. Before becoming acting Director of Public Works had nothing to do with Building Ordinance except as Acting Director of Public Works, and I had nothing to do with Nos. 32 and 34, Cochrane Street until after the collapse. I have since inspected the buildings.
the cause of the collapse?-The only thing, 1 Mr. Bowley-What is your opinion as to
can attribute it to is the bad construction of the-pary wall between the two houses. I have very little doubt that the addition of a new storey contributed towards the collapse."
What have you to say about the found
In what remais of the buildings can you point out any deviations from the plans? I noticed in the work the following deviationsations ?-They appeared to be good.
On the ground floor of No. 34 there was a large archway instead of a cross-wall. At the kitchen there is a large archway instead of a - wall:
Is there any internal cross-wall' as shown in the plan No.
Continuing, he said:-There were no chim ney's in accordance with the plan. There should have been, a pipe fue but that is not drawn. On the roof there was a brickwork
The slabs of stone were very rough, but there There is no fault to be found with them?
was no visible defact-about-them. →→
His Worship-Would you describe them as good? Yes,
weight of the wall?--Yes.
Mr. Bowley-Strong enough to bear the
Continuing witness said :-As a professional man, if I was consulted with regard to the advisability of adding another storey I would
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SOLE AGENTS..
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THE HONGKONG DISPENSARY.
Hongkong. 21st September, 1901.
BREWER
NEW STOCK.
INDIAN CIGARS. BRIER PIPES. CIGARETTES (in great Variety) TOBACCOS, JOHNSON and NEWTON'S OIL and WATER. COLOURS.
T. SQUAKES. SET SQUARES. SKETCHING BLOCKS. SKETCHING BOOKS. DRAWING PAPER, large size by the Yard.
Hongkong, 24th September, 1901:
Floor, No. 22, DES VEUX ROAD,
have This Day REMOVED, our Offices to the P. & O. Building, Second THE
BENJAMIN, KELLY & POTTS. Hongkong, 23rd September, 1901, [10440
WOOD'S VICTORIAN BUTTER.
VICTORIA
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that he has This Day sold by Fublic THE Undersigned begs to notify the Public SIMPLE Au tion, a quantity of DAMAGED BUTTER
scratched on the Cow's Head. in th and 2 b Tins.
The-Tins-have-been-marked;with a Cross,
GEO. P. LAMMERT, Sole Agent for Wood's Victorian Table 755c]
Butter in China, Japan and the Philippine Islands. Hongkong, 23rd September, 1901.
IMPERIAL BANK OF CHINA.
WANTED.
[10460
superstructure about seven feet high and five feet square. It seenis as though it had been used. examine the walls very carefully, as I knew the they had nothing to do with the matter, though Act a COMPRADORE from next
As a cookhouse. By the side of it was another superstructure partly broken.
In No. 32 Cochrane Street there was an arch on the ground floor, instead of a wall. The internal cross-wall was missing, no chimneys were shown on the plan, and there was a brick super- structure nearly similar to that on No. 34. 1 was not quite so high. The side of the super- structure appeared to be built on the party wall
between No. 37 and 34. superstructures of this kind are not considered part of the party wall nor do they necessitate any increase in thicke.
ness,
Have these deviations had anything to do with the collapse?—in a slight degree. I do not think thewantofchimneys, nor the superstructureshad anything to do' with it. I think if the cross-wall
had been built it would have strengthened the
building.
building was an old one in the first instance I would examine them externally to see
the nature of the materials. To do this of course, it would be necessary to remove the thin veneer of lime on the walls,
Would you have thought it necessary to cut buildings, I think I should come to that con- open the walls?-In the case of these particular
clusion.
the foundations It would have been a wise Would you have thought it necessary to open and prudent thing in de,
elaborate machinery of the Building Ordinance having been gone through in this farcical way, the plans, with the formal approval of the Director of Public Works; were handed to the contractor or architect. Then began the work of hacking the party wall, of cutting into it, putting in new corbelling, altering the stair that by degrees this death-trap, warranted to enses, and adding to the top of the building so
hold 55 people, is erected. No one ever in-
Do you think the carrying on of a black-spected the work from the commencement to amith's trade would tend to injure the walls? the finish. This is a malter, which I submit, Na, not light work. Heavy work would create
your Worship, not only concerns the tenants; a serious defect.
but also the man in the street, who supposes that the Public Works Department in this
Would the operation of taking down cross- walls, and altering staircases tend to affect the
N EXPERIENCED MAN of business to
China New Yent
tion to the Undersigned.
Full Particulars can be obtained on applica-
By Order of the Board of Directors:
E. W. RUTTER, Manager. Hongkong, goth July, 1901.
A
ROYAL NAVAL YARD.
WANTED.
(8120
CHINESE DRAUGHTSMAN, who is Ship Drawings.
a good Tracer and accustomed to making Applications to be made in writing to the Chief Constructor.
J. BLACK,
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[10400
buildings ?--Yes, it would probably affect the Colony protects him against houses falling Hongkong, 21st September, 1901,
walls.
His Worship Do you propose to ask his
Are you still of the same opinion with regard to the cause of the collapse? Yes.
Continuing, he said I don't think the vibra.opinion about Section 757- tion in the blacksmith's shop would send very much to weaken the wall, nor do I think it had any effect upon the collapse. It might have contributed to it in a slight degree in my opinion the panty wall would have fallen down
Mr. Bowley No, your Worship. Of course, if your Worship wishes me to
His Worship-No, I don't want it.
Your Worship, I propose to adduce, and with Mr. Bowley: That is all the evidence,
remarks on the evidence.
upon him. The Ordinance says. "The Dir- during their progress, and see that the require- ector of Public Works shall inspect buildings
ments of the Ordinance are complied with 1, submit it is the duty of the official in charge to refuse to sign the permita until he bas entlified himself on all points. I have heard it argued in courts of law it is no excuse because a man has not time to do a
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Apply personally to-
H. RUTTONJEE. Hongkong, 6th September, 1901.
WANTED,
sooner or later without the additional storey. Your permission I should like to make a few certain duty, that that duty should remain for CRAIGIEBURN HOTEL.
Ti might have stood that way for years
doubt it.
five in each
His Worship:Yes.
undone. If he had no time to inspect the building it was in his power to refuse to sig How many people would be allowed to in ship, iu reopening this enquiry, of course, it is matter to the Government and thrown the Mr. Bowley-As I mentioned to your Wor the pormits, or he might have referred the habit these houses after the alterations ?-Fifty-quite clear that the deaths of these unfortunate responsibility on it. It is not, your Worship, as Have you any idea how many Chinese and I take it that the real cause of this enquiry been falling about in this Colony for the last people was caused by the collapse of the houses, though this is any new thing. Houses have houses have had a fourth storey added to therri is to find out why these houses collapsed. I two or three years in a most extraordinary way, lately?-During the year 190 plans were think we have everwhelming evidence from and a great deal has been made of it in the deposited for raising 189 houses an extra storey several expert engineere that the real cause of public Press, and is other ways. I submit In height. The plans were all approved under the collapse was the faulty construction of the the Building Ordinance.
your Worship that the persons to blame party walls between the two houses. There for this accident. are in the first place, Witness then read the following statement- When I arrived in the Colony, in 1890 I was finding out of the cause of the falling of the ledge the owner relied, and who gave it as fore, the enquiry really limits itself to the the Architect on whose professional know placed in charge of the Building Ordinance party wall. I think your Worship will be of his opinion, without making any examination and other work, carried out under the heading opinion that the fall of the party wall was at all, that the houses were fit to be built upon; of Annual Recurrent Expenditure.. That in; brought about to a very great extent, if not secondly, the official responsible in the Public cluded maintenance of Government buildings, altogether, by the addition of a new storey comWorks Department, who, without, making any maintenance of the Public Cemetery, main-prising heavy beams and brickwork. There examination whatever, passed the plans; and tenance of Praya Wall and Piers, maintenance were, possibly minor causes, such as the soaking thirdly, the head of the Department, who has of lighthouses, maintenance of roads through ofrain into the building and the vibration caused out the Colony, lighting the city with gas, by the work in the blacksmith's shop, but in allowed the staff in charge of the duties of the maintenance of the Hongkong Recreation spite of these, I submit that the chief cause of
Building Ordinance to dwindle down gradual. ground, and others works of a miscellaneous the collapse was the addition of the new story character which cropped up from time to time. to this old building. We now know pretty well Mr Brown was Surveyor at the time, and my how it was this new storey was constructed. It staff consisted of an assistant engineer, two overseers for roads, three overseers for buildings, without much supervision in those days, was an old building erected in 1878, probably one overseer in charge of the Cemetery, and one Originally it was a three-storey house, and was overseer for Building Ordinance work, bealde built of blue brick. Somehow or other it stood or three-pative foremen. Mr. Cooper the wear and tear of usage and climate for succeeded Mr. Brown in 1891, and giving me some 23 years, Recently it changed hands another assistant engineer added, maintenance and the new owner, seeing what was going`on' of telegraphs to my work. This staff was main everywhere in the Colony, thought he would do trified up till the time I went on leave in the same as other people and add another
March, 1897, and when I returned to the Colony storey. Before doing so he took professional in the matter in March, 1898, Mr. Ormsby, who was then the opinion as to its feasibility, and went to an
two
Director of Public Works told me that I should
„bave to do with one-assiniant engineer, - That
OTTAM & CO. BILK SOCKS And
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MRE. HUBBARD. "
166, QUEEN'S ROAD EAST, Hongkong, 11th September, 1001 Γιοάζε
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[95&6
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MANILA CIGARSANLOVE T. M. STEVENS & CO. Bay Beaconsfield Amade. Hongkong, 2nd September 197 19590
DROZ & Co.,
the assistant, engineer in charge of building it reaches Mr. Crisp. He actually takes away
work and appoints nobody, save one overseer,
the Building Ordnance, which is carefully who bas just come out to the Colony and hard- ly knows his way about the street. In this way framed, has been allowed to dwindle down uhel it is a mere farce.I would ask your Worship to bring in a verdict in addition to your pre- were due to the adding of a new story to the vious finding, that the deaths of these people
roties party well, and that the architect who. recommended the addition and the parties who fanctioned it were guilty of gross negligence LEVER
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