CO129-614-1 Commission of Inquiry into fire at West Point- report 26-5-1949 - 22-12-1949 — Page 44

CHAPTER VII

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THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE STORAGE OF DANGEROUS GOODS

AND CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS IN AN UNLICENSED GODOWN.

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48. If application had been made by the owners or by the godown-pro- prietors for a license to store cinematograph film scrap in Godown No. 5, it would certainly have been refused. It is possible that a license would have been refused for storage of at least some of the dangerous goods mentioned in paragraph 46, owing to the godown being situated below domestic promises. No objection would have been raised to the storage of Caustic Soda, as at the time of the fire it was not regarded as a dangerous substance falling within Category 5. We considered that the fixing of the responsibility for this improper storage came within our terms of reference. Our first step therefore was to establish the functions of the various persons concerned in the management and routine working of the wing On Godowns, but our task was not made easier by the fact that 13 out of the 21 godown employees lost their lives in the fire, We decided,in order not to prolong the inquiry to limit our livestigation to the reasons for the presence of the film and the cellulose lacquer

in godown No. 5.

Duties of the ing On Staff:

The

49. The person directly responsible to the Chief Manager of the Wing On Company for the conduct and running of the godowns was Mr, Lem Wan Kui, otherwise known as Mr. Wilkie Lam, Most of Mr. Lam's work was in the head offices of the Wing On Company in Des Voeux Roel, but nearly every morning he visited the office in Godown No. 2 between the hours of 10 o'clock and noon, sometimes visiting the godowns themselves, office staff consisted of Mr. Wong Siu Keng (deceasca), fecountant, and Mr. Kwok Kar Nin, Cashier, together with a shroff and two book- keepers who were responsible for the keeping of stockbooks. The godown staff worked under the head godown-keeper, Wong Tong, who appears to have reserved to himself the direct supervision of Godown No. 2, whilst maintaining a general supervision of Godowns Nos. 1 and 5, The godown- keeper of No. 1 was Leung Yung San, and of No. 5, Lam Sang. All three godown-keepers lost their lives in the fire.

Finally there wore a number