POISONED BY RADISH SEEDS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 133, 22 February 1918, Page 7

POISONED BY RADISH SEEDS

DEATH OF DOROTHY HASELDEN,

.Yesterday morning Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M., continued the inquest into the cause of death of Dorothy Haselden, aged nine years, who died in the Wellington Hospital on January 31. Tho inquest had been adjourned pending the report /)f the Government ;Analyst. Dr. J. S. Maclaurin,' Dominion Analyst, who examined the contents of tlie stomach and certain exhibits for•'warded iby the police, reported that radish seeds were found. Though no reference could-be found to these seeds being poisonous, they might.be expected to have irritant properties, Tests wore madefrom which it. would appear that radish seeds are poisonous, and it was therefore highly probable that they were tho. cause of. the child's death. ■ • •• ' • , Cecil O. W. Haselden, father of the deceased, gave evidence that immediately, prior,to ihe death of his daughter ho had some radish seeds, the remains of a packet bought for planting, lying in an outhouse where the children had access to them. .Witness later found the seeds lying on a bench, evidently upset by the children. The coroner said- that without the analyst's report it would have been impossible to tell what ,liad caused death. Although radish seeds were generally considered harmless, it was shown that they, were poisonous.. Thero was nothinff to show that death was due to any "other cause. A verdict was returned in accordance with the analyst s report. -... ■ -•