1948-11-03 — Page 5

THIS MORNING'S

WING ON FIRE INQUIRY

Premises Inspected In May Last

Evidence of inspection of the premises was given by a Health Inspector at the resumed hearing of the Wing On Company Godown fire before the Com- mission of Inquiry at the Supreme Court this morning. Mr Justice Reynolds is Chairman and the members are the Hon. N. O. C. Marsh, Mr Kwok Chan, Mr A. E. Lissaman and Mr Li Min-nung with Mr T. D. Sorby as Secretary. Insp. A. Shaw is for the Police.

Cheung Tai-kit, health inspector of the Sanitary De- partment, gave evidence that he inspected the premises belonging to the Wing On Company in Des Voeux Rond on May 31 this year. The godowns were locked and so he only inspected the upper tenement floors. The inspection was made at 10 a.m.

The Chairman: At that time can MRNY persons you tell us how

floors, these

fourteen

on

there were roughly?-Roughly about persona on each floor.

It would be part of your duty as a health Inspector to take note of the number of occupants so that you were could report if the premises

would that not he overcrowded, Fo?—Yes.

From that point of view did you nollee how many were in each of these flats.

persons

there Can

you give an approximate figure, of would be persons course, there absent who were out About fourteen.

FIRE ESCAPES COVERED Did you notice if there were any obstructions to the iron are escapes on the verandahs? notleed some of

that

escopes the Are

were of a very blocked by something temporary nature, I refer to covers over the topa.

be report to you?-No. He reports his immediate superior, the senior Inspector.

Replying to a question regarding requirements of the Fire Brigade, witness said there was a course lald down in the Sanitation Ordinance Section 17, sub-section 20.

Mr Hooper added that very rarely were reports inde to him as each district in the Colony was grouped under health Inspectorn,

|

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1948.

EVIDENCE IN

THE

Members of the Commission appointed to inquire into the Wing On godown fire pose for the camera in front of the Supreme Court. From left to right they are Mr T. D. Sorby (secretary). Mr A. E. Lissaman, Hon. N. O. C. Marsh, Mr Justice Reynolds (chairman), Mr Kwok Chan and Mr Lo Min-nung.-Picture by Staff Photo- grapher.

about to jump to the street, told them not to do so.

About

He

Пус minutes Jater Police reinforcements arrived Western Stailon, and about from four minutes after the Fire Brigade come on the scene. He saw the Bremen rect the salety Indders and the flaming buliding against

the bringing people down from upper floors.

DRUMS ACROSS ROAD

In reply to Mr Evans, witness said he heard no other sound before the MINUTES THE PWD sound of the explosion he mention- The Chairman: If some serious ed. He said there were 20 to 30 drums lying right across the road at work-matter were discovered by an In-

from the burning building to the spector on his inspection you say he would refer it to his senior in- Gas Company premises. Two fre enginis arrived on the scene from spector-He makes a note of any serious structural defect and when the east, but whether there were returns to the afflecany from the west, he could not sny. the inspector

H. B. Gould, works superinten becomes the usually

subject

West matter of a minute to the Publicdent of the Gas Company.

the Commission Point. informed Works Department.

that he was residing at the works to n question Replying

10 05

and his bedroom window overlook- whether it would be the duty of a

er Des Volux Road West. He had Inspector

observe health

finished his breakfast and the whelber

Are proper

walked precautions

a.m. work bell rang. He were being taken, witness stated that

across to a window overlooking the none of the health inspectors was

yard of the gas works to see if the trained in fire precautions.

employees lind commenced work when I noticed a small fame lick- ing out under the balcony from the third godown on the left facing the Gas Company. The Rame bright orange in colour and emerging lazily. It tricki'd up the balcony and past the front,

Besides those did you notice any thing else blocking these escapes like household goods. Can you re- member seeing anything on top of the covers of the escapes. Did you notice if they were clear or if there

to them? was any impediment Some of them were covered

not all of them.

Did you notice

Whether

them being What would prevent used as fire escapes?--Because some

hold goods which were on the steps.

I did not notice that some of the fire escapes were missing.

In it part of your duty to take note of the fire escapes and sch matters?-No.

TOLD THE TENANTS

would not consider it your duty to If the escapes were defective you report it to your superior?--No.

CASUALTY LIST

B

Wais wus

"I left my bedroom for the sitting room to call the Fire Brigade," Mr

continued.

lust Gould

"I had picked up the lephone when

or

Det. Police Constable 927, Ip Sun, sald he wan instructed by Det-balls Inspector Show to interview

beferson occupying the premises give

you

PRESIDENT TRUMAN IN

ELECTION LEAD

(Continued from Page 1)

Mr Dewey was tense but smiling

Hotel

as he returned to Roosevelt Mrs Kasenkina's

sonic

num-

Own Story

(Continued from Page 4)

after dinner at the: home of an old friend Roger Straus, with whom he traditionally hos dined on clection night since he first ran for public office.

the teletape sulle were In his machines of press associations, radio and television set and

i had not, of course, Intended by of ber of telephones in communication

was on act with Party leaders across the nation: my leap, which

focus the civilised On the floors below, where Party despair, to

upon the plight world's attention 700 newspaper of my people and workers .and

the Infernal men, photographers and radio re-

conditions of the hundreds of thou- presentatives gathered, there was an co

our return to than In freedom unbelievably complicated tangle of sands of DPs who prefer to suffer

one homeland. An

of radio, television and power lines and

Hghts for newsreel and enslaved bright

them, whom fortune has cast upon television cameros.

The shores

Argentino of the former high

teacher like school myself-writes to me:

"How astonished the world would niso if the peoples of Russia

£ window open to them. How millions would do what you

WAS

for

ma-

be

preter, from the stack. It comes

from a camp in the American Zone. written by a man who halls from the Volga, and wino with his wife and four, children is now a refugee from Soviet bondage:

་

SPOKESMAN OPTIMISTIC The Governor was expected to close remain with his family and associates until the election outcome was decisive, but Herbert Brownell,

found Jr, Republican Na'lonal Chairman, many issued frequen: "communiques" to

did the press.

To dale I have received, among Mr Brownell said it

"ap- parent" the Republicans would the numerous letters from all the corners of the earth, scores from In DP camps in compatriots sweep two-thirds of the 48 States:

Governor and Mrs Dewey voted my

one is Western Germany. Here

at random, in the presence mid-day in the basement of a relected public school not far from the hotel. of the nurse and the police inter- They were voters No. 200 and 201. of the

Mr Dewey, dressed in a double- breasted gray suit and dark blue tle, posed almost ten minutes photographers before he entered the booth containing the voting chineUnited Press,

The world heard in your cry the TRUMAN AWAITS VERDICT ·

stifled cry for help of the entire which Your lean. Independence, Missouri, Nov. 2.-

people. Russian retired into the almost cost Prezident Truman

you your life,

Was to make

breach sanctuary of his big 14-room home needed here tonight to await the verdict of the wall of disbelief, to show that

Russia are the nation's voters. Lighin were on the

the Soviet-Bolshevist In most rooms of the house but the the peoples of

thing and shades were drawn.

tyranny something else. After attending a luncheon bra· "Here In Germany we witnessed- at his home in the afternoon, how men severed their veins, cut resting the President went to Kansas City their throats with glass, so as not to Stalin and his Club for a Turkish bath and to relax, to back

RO He re-mercenaries....In our cheerle58, according to friends here. turned to his home for dinner. hopeless situation your act came to

While his house was well-lighted, us like a of salvation."

2013 DI these across the street were ablaze

Perhaps my act will help America with Ughts as reporters and work and the world realise what

treasure the forces of freedom men awalled any word from behind the drawn shades of the summer

the from and refugees

Soviet possess in the legions of victims of yond the bright lights of nearby despotism.

That this idea is dawning upon houses. to mark tonight as a special night in the vicinity of Mr Truman's people everywhere is shown by a letter from a 17-year-old American student which has reached me just as I was about to conclude the ne- count of my life. He writes:

The Chairman They have not any special training which would bat enable them to delect fire dangers

which would

to not be apparent these the ordinary person.--No. The De- escapes could be used by persons fpartment always refers to the Fire

in working Brigade for their advice. necessary, Were they

The Chairman: Did you superin- order? Some of them were.

inspections yourself? And sonie of them were not, do tend any

Very, very rarely. In my 28 yeaTA you mean? ?—Yes.

I cannot

1 remember inspecting building except the Wing On bulid-sheet of flame shot by the window. It was also very bright orange in of them were obstructed by house-ing recently after the Dre.

colour, and this was accompanied by a nulse like a very strong wind rushing watir. In this flame to be what seemed like appeared

fre. The duration of the the

fame was aboul 10 seconds. survivors and ascertain the number The Dearest description I can

13 that It Wog of fire. the outbreak

Here a blow lamp-a Jet Name. learned from his enquiries that the After 10 seconds, it cleared. number totalled 394 from all the 30

LORRY ABLAZE flats.

Det. Sub-Inspector A. Shaw cor- "I looked out into the _yard_and

Instructions he had raw coolies roborated the

running

amang given Ip, and said he prepared a them was my telephone operator. List of the dead and missing. Eigh- | I gave up trying to contact the in hospital, Fire Brigade, there was no con- teen persons had died 23 bodies

at the nection. identified

out While looking were

into mortuary, while unidentified bodies the yard, I saw a large number of

the ruins telling | recovered from

inside, and the of the small lires

Jorry tenants themselves you building totalled 90. comprising 80 parked there was blazing merrily.

adults and 10 children. Missing "As I passed through the dining could have the matter put right?

room towards the stairs, I nolleed persons numbered 155, including 120

dead that the curtains in the windows adults and 35 children. The

were in re, and I told my ser- Laken

from the burned building were checked by Det. Police Contable vants to put it out. I then das White House. There was little, be 742 Chan Wing, who was working in off downstairs. I could not get out conjunction with Sanitary coolies. through the front door because the then were licking It. Inspector Shaw said that a con- siderable

quantity of bones and went upstairs again with the inten

tion of getting something to shield ashes was found in the building, and he took them to be the remains of my head, and grabbed a raincoat.

"On going downstairs. I noticed that the fame had receded to the

And if you did notice that a escape could not be used in an emergency, would you report it? In that case, I would report to my senior.

any re Why did you not muko port? I did tell the tenants of the floor to remove all the obstructions.

You thought that

the

Yes.

by

You told the tenants themselves obstruc- About seeing that these llons were removed?—I left it to them to remove,

How often is it that you inspect these premises?-About once every six months.

When you made your inspection did you receive any complaints from the tenants about anything? | the persons unaccounted for. No, no complaints at all.

flumes

and

Several efforts were made by the opposite side of the street. It was And if there was anything to Police to trace the missing. Notices then going practically vertically up complain about would you

expect were

inserted in the newspapers the left front of the building. calling on the missing persons to went Into the works yard and report themselves, but there had grabbed a fire extinguisher and

no response. He

therefore started to fight the flames on the came to the conclusion that his total lorry. There were several fires in of 155 persons

the street and also In

them to complain to you? They can either complain to me or they can write a lotter and then the matter will be dealt with mediately,

Im-

What part of these tenements did you in fact inspect7-The whole of them.

coollen to gain access. A

The Chairman: Did, you Inspect the kitchens-Yes.

And did you find everything was

been

home.

A group of between 20 and 30 persons, part of them teenagers, stood on a nearby street corner.

In nearby Kansas City, the lobby of Hotel Muchlbuch was full of citizens. The lobby was dominated by a big picture, of the President. flanked by American flags.-United Press.

Senior, missing was accurate and the rubber insulation of the

the yard, NATIONAL

Inspector A White said he supervised the removal telephone wires across the yard

of the bodies from the scene of fire was burning. I also heard shouts

the bodies from

the people living in

on September 23. As were brought down the stairs of the tenements. building by Sanitary

terry,

they had found

the bodies. In a to extinguish the flames number of cases, there

were only In other cases arms and legs, and

It could be only charred torsos. distinguished - whether the bodies

on

the

+

DAY

OF PANAMA

His Excellency the Governor, Str Alexander Grantham, accompanied

EL

in

one

"Your act her given me a now appreciation of the freedom enjoy."

We

To this iden I am prepared to dedicate my second life.

(THE END)

Army Lorry

In Harbour

KING'S

AIR-CONDITIONED

BY POPULAR

REQUEST

ONE DAY ONLY AT 2.30, 5.15, 7.20° 9.30 P.M.

EALING STUDIOS PRESENT

5

Googie Withers Jack Warner John McCallum

AT ALWAYS RAINS

JON

"the

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SUNDAY a street

you know

A MICHAEL BALCON PRODUCTION

TO-MORROW

Mon scoffed at his great- ness... women knew it at his first kisst

DARNELL SHEPPERD THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE

SHOWING

TO-DAY

NEXT

Hirelatry

Produced by HARRY LACHMAN • BRYAN FÖY V

BOOKINGS NOW OPEN!

At 2.30, 5.20,

MAJESTIC 7.20 & 9.20 p.m.

UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL presents

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RIDE THE PINK HORSE

CHANGE: "HELLZAPAPIN"

ALHAMBRANATHEATRE

SHOWING TO-DAY AT 2.30, 5.15, 7.20 & 9.30 P.M.

京東五)

"THE HAUNT OF THE

EASTERN CAPITAL

OPENS FRIDAY!

а

An army forry, No. A3718, be- Into the harbour at 9.40a.m. today at the function of Connaught Road and Cleverly. Street.

* EVERYTHING IN ORDER

Replying further, witness satd that he thought the. Iron grille in

coolies, they "I was joined by a foreman who by Capt A., F. P. Wilson, ADC, at- the scavenging lane should be left

and tended a reception held this morn- open all the time from a health were checked by the Police and the niso brought an extinguisher point of view to enable sanitary colles informed the Police where by a number of coolles in my efforts ing at the Club Lastiano in celebra-longing to 983 Coy. RASC, plunged

thetion of the National Day of the Re-

public of Panama.

The Consul for the Panama and REELS OF CELLULOID

Mrs

Eulallo Carrera Loo received "Thinking that the fire had been the

many, guests. id in order?--Yes.

caused by the gasometer being

A toast to the King was proposed danger of fire did these kitchens op it was not possible to-distinguish and out. pear to be used properly, was there their features sufficiently to identity 71, appeared to be rubber.

However, it was not so. replied with a toast to the President any: carelessness which might have them. The bodies were removed to were ten or a dozen boxes bime of the Republic of Panama, led to the danger of fro7-It is usual the mortuary. when we Inspect kitchens to see if there are any defective gratings.

And from the point of view of were those of males or females,. but broken, I went into the street to by the Consul, and His Excellency General Post-

Did you and anything wrong In nny of these kitchens?-No

SECOND PHASE

There

Practice. Must Stop

in the street. There were also a large number as many as a bun- dred-of reels of what appeared to

carrying

Office.

The vehicle had just before the accident dropped an NCO of the Inniskillings, on postal duties, at the Sik-tong, the driver, escaped with a ducking, and Taul Ming, his friend, was taken to hospital suffer- Ing from sight shock.

The vehicle was dragged out of found to have a damaged radiator The second phase of the Inquiry-be celluloid also blazing both in the Remarking, that-the practice or the harbour by the REME, and was

cargo .on vessels, not into the outbreak of the fire and the street and inside the works. If you found anything which you action taken-then opened.

Cairns at the Marine Court this called the coolles to get some sand licensed to do so had to stop, Mt and a shattered windscreen. Police Corporal 760, Ng Yu, saldi in an attempt to extinguish some of morning imposed a line of $50 or 30 OUTWARD MAILS

days on the master

In fire

thought might would also come within province,That would

(Within my province.,

not

that

your he was on street patrol between 4 these small fires. I salvaged one comen.m. and 8 a.m, on September 22. of these reets which was not

**NO CRACKS IN FLOOR If you found defective flues which might lead to fire spreading would

that not be in your province? Well,

In that case, it would.

.A

of a Ashing 100 junk, who had 12 baskets of vegeta- Shortly after a.m. he was standing badly, burned and handed it to the bles on his boaf.. of the junction of Des Voeux Road Police, It was about nine inches West

Defendant pleaded he was bring- and Water Street. At about in diameter.

Ing the goods (from Junk Bdy to

3.30 p.m.. "When the Fire Brigade arrived Hongkong for sale'ns he wished to 8.05 a.m. he heard the sound of an explosion from the west and saw a about 15 minutes after the first sign carn some money. red glow of fire covering the

the road- of

of fire, I went back upstairs to sec

Did you notice in your Inspection wdowna which were about 150 yards in putting out the fire in my room. flame.

in front of the Wing On whether my servants had succeeded the rubber was emitting a yellow any cracks in any t

of the kitchen |

Asked if he heard an explosion, away from him. He blew his police I then took other precautions In the floors7--No.

You would have noifeed them if whistle and when Constable 1303 works against any further outbreaks Gould said he felt the vibration of one and heard the rushing sound. arrived he instructed the latter to of fire," there had been, any?—Yes.

Questioned by the Chairman, Mr When he saw J. Hooper,, Superintendent of telephone the Folice Station.

Gould said the colour of the flame roadway, they were dry. Whether Sanitary Services, next

He then tried to maintain order In gave evidence.

the area. He saw a number

of he first saw was definitely not a they had been blazing before or not The celluloid was he did not know. burning with an orange.

flame,, und

The Chairman; When a health famater of the tenement building on tos name. Inspector, makes in inspection does the roof and making as if they were

the drums in the

The proceedings are continuing.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 Closing Times By Air shanahaf. Nanking Hankow, Taingia. Pelping. Amoy, Taipeh and Swalow.

Closing Times By Sea & Train Straits and Batavia" (Rea)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBE

Closing Times By Air min.-11.30 am.

Colella, Karachi, Bahrein. Rangoon.

Alexandria (Cairo, Nairobi. JohanneN= and Marseilles-via Alexandria), Rome and London, (Kowloon CPO) 4,30 p.m. (GPO) 8 p.m.

hur

Bangkok, Singapore. Batavia, Colombo,

Sydney and Auckland, a p Japan, & m

Closing Times By Sea Shanghai, Japan, USA, Central and South

· Amerien vía New York (312) 3 pm.

--(Second-Chapter).

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YWCA Campaign

Closing...

Tomorrow is the closing date of the YWCA campaign for funds and a special meeting of members and friends will be held in the Associa tion's rooms, Duddell Street, at 3.30- p.m.

The meeting 'will be addressed by Lady, Gibson, who will describe the work of the YWCA in Palestino.

Tea will be served:

Bhangbel (Sa) 10 a.m. Bangkok (Bea) 10. R.m. Foochow (Bea) pur

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Scripto

ECHONG LUNG 00

207 Lake Yes Balling

1

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