1929-04-04 — Page 2

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THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH.

THE HOTEL FIRE DISASTER.

CRITICISMS.

VERDICT NEXT WEEK.

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1929.

J

BANVARD COMPANY AT THE HONGKONG HOTEL.

vided by the Banvard Musical The 'entertainment will be pro-.

Company. Comedy

Tho pro-

after being duly sworn sald: 1 A REAL CABARET. mado a detailed report of that fire. I want to bring forward to- day-

His Worship; interrupting, said AMERICAN RESIDENT'S KEEN Mr. Wentz was to confine himself

to answering the questions put to Far the first time in Hongkong him.

hlatory a real Cabaret is to be Called upon to give his ex-given, at the Hongkong Hotel Roof perience during the night of the Garden In the course of the dinnor [fre, witness said he was aroused, dance on Monday next, "April 8. shortly after three o'clock, by a This will be precisely the same as In the closing stage, yesterday, noles from the hall. He was then given at all the big London cabaret of the Coronor's enquiry held by was on the third floor. Ou realising

sleeping in room No. 300, which clubs. Mr. E. W. Hamilton into the cir- that a fire had broken out in the Hotel fire, Mr. Wentz, an Ameri-building, he thought of making cap resident, startled the Court for the fire escape, the existence with a seeming accusation that an of which, at the far end of the nttempt had been made to stifle building, he knew, but found his hie ovidence, with a view to white-way barred by flames which had washing the Police and Fire broken out in the-corridor. Brigado. The Acting C.S.P. (Hon, Mr. T H King) informed the Court that Mr. Wentz had criticized the conduct of the pro ceedings in very strong terme, which had necessitated the recalling of the Court, after it had adjourned, in order that due atten- tion be given to Mr. Weniz's opinions.

cumstances of the King Edward

Mr. V. C. Branson, Assistant Analyst at the Government Labo- ratory, spoke to having received from Inspector Lane a mixture of cotton, such as would be used for a Chinese quilt, in which there was a large quantity of naphtha Inn balla-more than would be normally necessary to keep away motha from such material. He was also handed some burnt re- mains of what looked like a wicker basket or chair,

"I went out of my room to the verandah, in Ice House Street. I expected the Fire Brigade to come, and saw quite a large number of people collected in the street. Taking some clothes out of my room I again, went out on the verandah to get dressed,"

gramme will be similar to that ro cently given at the Majestic Hotel, Shanghai, with phenomenal success. The Shanghai press described the occasion as the outstanding event The of the Shanghai season. magnificent ball room of the Majestic was full to capacity and very many were unable to secure tabics.

It is advisable for Monday next to book at once to avoid disappoint ment. Dinner tables can now be: reserved at the Hongkong Hotel.

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Witness said after waiting two or three minutes, ho climbed over the balustrade of the verandah and climbed over into the Savoy working of the Fire Brigade. 1 Hotel after negotiating three only say, and repeat myself, that

man, however pillars. He made is way into the a

good street and helped, to hold a jump-mechanician he is, cannot do much ing sheet, A body fall down without the proper tools. from an upper storey and missed Mr. King: I am glad I am the sheet by five or six feet. wrong. I understood that you complained that you were in the street before the Fire Brigade ar- rived.

Said witness: "I feel it as criminal negligence that a hotel of any size, to say nothing of the size of the King Edward, ahould have only one fire escape, and that fire escape placed in the remotest part of the building. My room was less than 20 feet from the part lead ing to the fire escape, so how could people like the Robsons, who lived in a room further away, have a chance of escape, except by using the one wooden staircase, which

By the Coroner: He did not think that cullon by itself, or with naphthaline balls contained in it, could spontaneously break into Are. He had experimented and found that a cigarette,end merely, would not set fire to the stuT.

Some authorities held that it was possible for cotton to smoul-was out of the question. I feel der, unnoticed, for days and weeks, and thien to burst into flames upon the action of a sud- He draught. He did not think that there was great chance of spontaneous combustion with the

presence of the naphthaline balls

amongst the cotton mixture. He would say the fire started on the outside, and burnt inwards and towards the top. Provided they had sufficient air, the naphthaline balls would also be highly. 'In- Hammable.

By the jury: He would be able

or gasoline if it had been there.

that the equipment of the Fire Brigade is terrible.

The Coroner: How so? Witness: In the first instance, they should have searchlights for those people who, jumping down

from upstairs, could thus see the

ground. Also substantial ladders that could reach higher than the third stoney in the case of a six or seven storeyed building.

The Ladders In America. The Coroner: You are familiar with the Fire Brigade?

Mr. Wentz: Yes, In America, Mr. Wentz mentioned that the

Mr. Wentz: I was in Ice House Street when the Brigade was in Des Voeux Road. I want to say, that Chief Brooks, as I understand him to be that, helped me to re- cover my papers from my room before the flames drove me out en- tirely.

The Coroner: The jury desire me to say that they are glad that you have come forward to give your evidence. I don't think you really believe for a moment that they wished to suppress any evidence. If so, I can assure you that it was entirely incorrect. I am very much obliged, to you for

coming into Court,

1:

The incident then closed.

Address to Jury.

·After a short adjournment, the Coroner addressed the reassembl. od jury as followe:

"I don't propose to delay you with any detailed reference to the

to detect the presence of kerosen | Jaddous they had "over there" evidence tendered. at this enquiry, could reach to height of 90 feet;sion from the beginning copies of an you have had in your posecs- there water towers, which were so the evidence handed to you daily, constructed that their width

after each hearing. gradually tapered towards the top, extended to the 8th or 9th storeys, and were provided with life-say- ing arrangements. He had hita- self gone up to the top of these ladders at the Fire Headquartere at New York,

Replying to the Coroner, the Hon. Mr. King aid that brought the evidence of the enquiry to a close, unless his Worship wished to hear Mr. Wentz, another real dent of the Hotel, whose testimony could not be previously taken on account of his absence from the Colony on a business visit to Shanghal.

The Coroner did not call for there was nothing in Mr. Wontz's Mr. Wentz, boing assured that

alatement, which Mr. Klug had with him, that could give any fur- ther detall useful to the Coroner or the jury.

The jury also did not express a desire to have Mr. Wentz'a

evidence,

very

The Coroner: I shall now ad- Jourt for about ten minutes, then I shall address the jury briefly, and then we will adjourn until such day as the jury may re- quire. They want some time to make, a detailed consideration of their finding.

Mr. Wentz's Outburst.

On this

"Your first duty is to find the cause of death in tho. case of the deceased, Mr. Wooda. point the medical evidence will guide you. You will further bring in a verdict of "death by misad- The Coroner: Have you any ex-venture" unless you are prepared Wentz laughed, stating that he and that the negligence was so perience with machinery7 Mr. to find that death was attributable to negligence on someone's part, was an imports and exporta man.

If you He thought that it would not gross na to be criminal,

Bo find, your verdict will be one take much time to get one of these

of "manslaughter.” towers alongside a burning build- ing-he had seen the firemen took less than two minutes to bring their own equipment alongside the King Edward.

The Coroner said that much of Mr. Wentz'e subsequent remarks could not be included as evidence, but the jury would doubtless take full nate of what he, had said.

Mr. Wentz further referred to the locked grille at the bottom of the are escape, which was the evi- dence of his own eyes.

Finally, Mr, Wentz explained that he had nothing to say against the personnel of the Fire Brigade. It was with their equipment that he found fault, for he had always maintained that however good a re-mechanie might be, he could not

do much without proper tools.

When the Court had adjourned for the proposed interval of ten minutes, and the Coroner had gone back into his. chambers, 4 startling incident occurred which led to the rather hurried calling of the Court.

The position was explained by Mr. King, who said that during the interval, after his Worship had risen, Mr. Wentz, who was in Court, remarked to him that "it was an outrage-this deliberate attempt to stifle evidence; and to whitewash the Police and Fire Brigade."

Mr. Wentz who stuted, that be was an American business man, later went into the box, and

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Mr. King, replying to the Coroner, and he did not wish to put any question with regard to the statements just made by wit- neas. He gathered, however, that Mr. Wentz complained of the de- iny in the arrival of the Fire Brigade,

Must Have Proper Tools." Mr. Wentz: No, I did not. I was very much impressed with the

enquiry grants you a wide field. and your Andings shall be record- ed in the form of riders. You are to find, if possible, the place of ori- gin of the are, the cause of the are, and state if you are satisfied as to its accidental natura or not. The latter finding will of course involve a verdict of murder.

"Beyond this, the scope of the

"Two Government Departments. either of these, or both of these, are concerned. If you think that deserve blame, your duty is to say go. If you are not satisfied with the equipment of the Fire Brigade you are to say so.

the state of the law which deals "Finally, if you consider that

with the legal relations of pro- perty ownera and the Fire Brigado and P.W.D., and with the powers of these two departments, is un- satisfactory, you must say so, and it is open to you to suggest on what lines amendments should be made."

The Coroner suggested that the jury would require time for a do- talled consideration at their vor- dict, and he accordingly adjourned the enquiry until next Wednesday at 2.15 p.m.

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