CO129-614-1 Commission of Inquiry into fire at West Point- report 26-5-1949 - 22-12-1949 — Page 45

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of tallymen permanently connected with each godown.

Movement of goods

was largely effected by casual labour, employed on a more or less per-

manent basis.

Storage of the Film Scrap:

50. In September, 1947, a consignment of approximately 30 tons of cinematograph film scrap arrived in the Colony; it had originally been consigned to Shanghai, but in view of the import regulations prevailing in that port, had been redirected to the Hong Kong Branch of its con- signeos, the Oriental Development Corporation. The Secretary of the branch was unable personally to secure storage space for what he knew to be dangerous cargo, and turned it over to the China Travel Service. Mr. Benjamin Lee of the latter organisation in his evidence stated that, having failed to arrange storage in the Kowloon Godowns for reasons which he could not remember, he arranged storage in the Ting On Godowns, probably after a telephone conversation with a member of the godown of- fice staff. He was aware of the exact contents of the drums, because the bill of lading had described the cargo as 144 drums of "nitro-cellu- lose film scrap". The cargo was delivered to the Wing On Godown No. 1 on 22nd September, 1947, and a godown warrant for its storage was handed to the tallyman of the China Travel Service, The godown warrant which was eventually passed to the owner was written out wholly in Chinese

characters, and the cargo was described as 膠片碎 《Kau pin sui).

The warrant was signed by Wong Siu Keung (deceased). The drums of film scrap were entered in the placement-book of Godown No. 1, probably by Yeung Yung San (deceased), as

kif- (Kau kau pin sui). i

similar cargo of film scrap, that used by the Assistant Government

Chemist in his investigation, had been stored in the China Union Cor-

poration godown, and a godown warrant in English had been issued. The

contents of the drums were described on this warrant as

舊照相軟片

(Kau chiu sheung yuen pin), also in English, as "nitro-cellulose film

scrap". An entry in the placement-book disclosed that on 24th November, 1947 the film scrap was removed to Godown No. 5, for reasons unknown, but we consider that as Godown No. 1 was not rated as a "hazardous go- down" for insurance purposes, the intention had always been to store this

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