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THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH,
ACCIDENTAL DEATH.
JURY'S RECOMMENDATIONS FOLLOWING INQUIRY,
was
SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1929.
BIG SHAUKIWAN ' BLAZE.
BOATYARDS & HUT HOMES DESTROYED.
ARTILLERYMEN HELP.
Fireman in Evening Dress
One of the European officers of the Fire Brigado was on his way to the City Hall when the fire was first reported and appeared on the scend directing the men under his control while wearing evening dress.
The inquiry into the death of a Chinese woman, following an ox- plosion in the Fung Koung Rubber Factory at Shaukiwan,'
The crowd was kept well under control by the troops and a large brought to a closo yesterday after- noon. The jury returned a ver-
body of police, but muiny people dict of "Accidontal death" and One of the most spectacular flres who secured good vantage points added a recommendation to the to occur in Hongkong for somely when the corrugated iron roof were forced to retrent periodical-, antimo broke out at Shaukiwan last of one doomed shed would fall
effect that since there was Ordinance requiring certificates
►
for the installation and working night and raged for about two with a crash, sending a shower of bollers in the Colony, the Go-hours despite exceptionally good | of sparks into the air. vornment should see that the Orwork on the part of the Firo Bri-| A woodyard at the extreme end dinance was not allowed to be gade. The district involved is of the range of hutments was in como a dead Jotter. Not only should the Ordinance be put into known as the "Che Meo Teo" dis- constant danger of being involved, force, but also periodical examina-trict, being a collection of roughly majority of lines of hose on the but the Brigade concentrated the tions should he carried out by bullt houses, workshops of all de nearest blazing buildings and by Government surveyors, and fur- ther the working of boilers should scriptions and small timber yards, persistent effort prevented the be under alilled supervision, The area involved is on the sea-woodyard from being involved.
front at Shaukiwan near the tramway terminus. The range of buildings extends back from the waterfront for a distance of roughly a hundred feet, leaving a passageway between the last line of hutrients and the dwelling houses which front to the road.
The jury also agreed with wit nesses as regards the proper sur voying of steam boilers in the Colony,
Prior to the sitting yesterday, the Coroner, the Jury and Mr. R.8. Logan, the P.W.D. engineer, examined the boiler concerned and aise the scene of the accident. The Court ant at 3 p..
The evidence given by the manager of the factory in the course of the inquiry was to the effect that he was not at the works at the time of the explosion, Someone telephoned to him, while he was at Causeway Bay, and he hurried down to Shaukiwan where ho found one of the women hands killed.
Cover Blown Off.
How the are started is a com- plete mystery at the moment. At about eight o'clock last night several of the huts were seen to be on fire and there was a general stampede among the dwellors in the district which, it is stated, comprises about a hundred and ifty ramshackle buildings of all descriptions.
Huddled together so that they defy classification, many of these rude hutments serve the double purpose of house and tiny factory for large numbers of people. The majority consist of a wooden fram- ing around which pieces of wood, corrugated iron and other scrap material have been faatened to gether to form a rude workshop or home for Chinese of distinctly limited menne.
Speaking of the explosion, the witness said that the cover of one of the vulcanisers was blown off with such force, that it brought down a pillar and then went through a party wall. The boller was made in Shamshuipo, by a Chinese firm who also designed it. The person in charge of the vulcaniser, said the manager, hnd attle experience in engineering and none whatever of vulcanisers when he joined the factory a few
Flames Sweep Nullah, months ago. The explosion In-
The fire was first noticed on the Jured the man, who was attended
far alde of the collection of hucka to at the hospital but, was not detained. The next day the wit and spread with such rapidity that ness sent for the man in charge before the first contingent of the of the boiler, who in an interview Brigade arrived several huts had with the manager had told the been destroyed. A high wind was Batter that just before the expleblowing at the time and in such slon he had heard a sizzling sound
a congested area the flames were as of steam esenping. Wituers able to run along the whole length added that he understood that the of the range of buildings. man in question had since left the Colony.
A number of questions as to the working of the boiler from an engineering point of view were then put to the witness.
At the close of the evidence Mr. R. E. Lindsell, the Coroner, addressing the jury said that any person who undertook a duty which might involve danger to other human beings was bound by law to exercise a certain amount of skill and care in carry ing out that duty. If he grossly and criminally neglected that duty, then he was guilty or man- slaughter, but the jury must find gross and criminal negligence before they would be justified in bringing in a verdict of man- slaughter.
A Dead Letter,
&
The fact that the man in charge of the boller had absconded was not a point to which the jury had to attach great importance, as it was somewhat common to find such persons running away in
quences,
People Without Homes,
There was a moment's excito ment shortly before ten o'clock when another woodshed well remov- ed from the aren involved was seen
to be on fire, beams in the roof having broken out into flame. A jet of water directed to the spot quickly averted the danger in this quarter.
!
.
People living nearby had good cause to remove their belongings as at one time. It seemed likely that the blaze would extend even fur ther. Fortunately it was confined to the settlement of dwellings, and workshops, the greater part of which was entirely wiped out.
It is difficult to describe the na- turo of the settlement but it is un- derstood that it includes several yards owned by boatbuilders, shops where engineering work is done and store places of various kinds. In addition, many of the shacks were is safe to say that. a number of formerly used as dwellings and It people have been rendered homeless by the fire. The means of livell
hood of a number of people Has also undoubtedly vanished.
By ten thirty last night the area. involved had been atripped of its of blazing and smouldering debris. buildinga and was merely a street The main supports of the buildings merely remained to give some in- dication of the height of the build- ings which
had been burned. These stood up like giant fireworks, still smouldering in the strong wind and periodically bursting in- to flame again.
The First Alarm,' According to information from the Fire Station the alarm was receiv ed at 8.23, it being stated that a range of matsheds belonging to a boat builder and covering an area of 500 feet by 100 feet had caught fire.
A nullah about twenty feet wide might have confined the outbreak, to comparatively small limits if the Avind had been blowing in the other direction. Soon, however, the flamen owept over the nullah, touched the buildings on the other side and quickly transformed them into blazing masses of timber. The Brigade turned out four Hut after hut was involved despite machines under Mr. II, T. Brooks the activities of the Fire Brigade and other European officera, the which brought into play the grea- fire float also being ordered to the ter part of the equipment kept on scene. Over three hundred feet of the Hongkong sido.
hose were put into play when the Brigade arrived, the hose being taken through narrow paths be tween the houses and godowns to the seat of the fire.
Fire Float in Action.
Numerous jeta were worked from motor pumps standing In the main road and shortly after nine o'clock the latest fire float was put into action in order to tackle the flames from the seaward. The fre float proved ineffective at first owing to low water and inability to come close in ahore. The jets
The stop algnal was sent out at 10.4 p.m. when it was apparent that the efforts of the Brigade had been successful in preventing the flames from spreading still further.
A much larger area than that
of water falled to reach the burn-pecified in the first alarm was ing buildings but later the fost involved however, but any estimate of the damage is impossible owing
was able to get closer in and ren- der useful service,
to the congested nature of the
uses of the various hutments lo
proference to fading the conac The Aremen were helped by settlement and the fact that the
about sixty men from the 12th largely a matter for speculation. Heary Battery Royal Artillery stationed at Lyemun Barracks who were on the spot soon after the are started, being in command of Captain McNair and Lieutenant
whether criminal or otherwise. As to the system under which it was possible to employ such a man on such a job, It was not the Coroner's province to comment, but the jury could,
if they dealred, make whatever Quinn. comment they wished.
Mr. Lindsell also drew attention By half past ning it seemed like-
to the existence of the Ordinance ly that the flames would go on which required the issuance of a spreading almost indefinitely. certificate. in connexion with The highly inflammable nature of overy boller in this Colony before the buildings and the high wind that boller was legally in use. contributed to a fire spectacular in It would appear, sald Mr. Lind- the extreme. The flames rose a sell, that the Ordinance was n huldred feet in the air, were easily dead letter. Whether that was seen from the more distant parts desirable or not, the jury might of Kowloon and provoked consider find occasion to say.
able comment among passengers The jury returned the verdict on the ferry, many of whom were given above.
on their way to St. George's Ball.
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*THESE ARE THE COPS WHO WILL TAKE PART ---
READING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT --- SOÄNDSO, SOANDSD, SAM HOWDY, SOANDSO, AND SOMNOSŐ- (THE GUY ON "THE EXTREME RIGHT IS OFF
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HERE'S WE CHEF WILL GLADO GUE
-BUT HOPES No cop. HITS THE "TARGET AT ALL --
A
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?