Herbert Henry Cleeland

=== THE ARGUS 8 July 1871 ===
BIRTHS.

CLEELAND. —On the 30th ult., at Free-hall, near Epping, Mrs. Joseph Cleeland of a son.

=== THE ARGUS 8 March 1930 ===
LIVES LOST IN FIRE.

Coroner Criticises Management.

The need for more stringent regulations governing the storage of inflammable materials in rooms where men are working was emphasised by the city coroner (Mr. D. Grant) at an inquest yesterday into tho deaths of Alexander Currie, aged 26 years, factory hand, of Punt road, Richmond, and Denis Joseph Slattery, aged 53 years, fore- man, of Sutton grove, Richmond. Both men lost their lives in a fire in the factory of the Boston Blacking Company, at Church street, Richmond, on January 9.

Herbert Cleeland said that he was work ing with Slattery when an explosion oc- curred and the room was enveloped in flames. They were trapped and Slattery said, "I think we are gone." Cleeland escaped by covering his head with a wooden box and rushing through the flames.

William Harmer, managing director of the Boston Blacking Company, said that on the morning of the fire Currie was em- ployed in the cementing-room. In this room there were four crates of celluloid films, which were used in the manufacture of rubber solution. Three of these crates were unopened. They had been in the fac- tory for a considerable time. Slattery was in another room packing cork.

The chief inspector of explosives (Mr. Lewis) said that the fire did not begin in the celluloid, as if it had done so the fumes would have poisoned everyone on the pre- mises. He said that the building was not suitable to the class of work for which it was used, owing to insufficient ventilation.

In recording a finding of accidental death the coroner said:- I am convinced that the outbreak was due to the igniting of large quantities of celluloid in the cementing room, 'I consider that the management of the company was at fault in allowing such a large quantity of celluloid to lie in a workroom when it was not being used. I have been unable lo find any regulations governing the storage of celluloid in rooms where men are working. Legislation should be introduced to prevent the recurrence of similar fatalities.