MINE INQUIRY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20108, 30 November 1939, Page 6

MINE INQUIRY

TELEPHONE MESSAGES MANAGER TO HIS WIFE DRAMATIC STORY REQUEST TO START FANS A dramatic turn in the proceedings of the Royal Commission which is inquiring into the death of 11 men in the Glen Afton mine on September 24 was given with the testimony of .Mrs. Mary Jane Blackburn, wife of the mine manager, who was among the dead. Mrs. Blackburn said that her husband left home at about 9 a.m. on Sunday, September 24, and said he was “just going to have a look round the mine, but wouldn't be away long.’' Some time later she had a telephone message over the mine telephone from her husband, who said: “For God’s sake go over and gel Thomas (the mine engineer) and get him to start the fan at once, as there are two deputies lost in the mine and I can’t find them.’’ She went to Thomas’ house and gave his son the message. Carbon-Monoxide Gas “I went home and sat by the phone,” witness continued, “John, Mr. Thomas’ son, went straight away to find his father. I had told him there was something serious at the mine. The next message I got was from Mr. Cole. He said: ‘Start fan.’ There was a distinct break between each word. Then he said ‘Carbon-monoxide gas.’ “I went over to the railway and called Mr. Thomas, who was just leaving with Mr. Marshall. I told Mr. Thomas I had a message from Mr. Cole that there was carbon-monoxide in the mine, and he said he had started the fan.”

Mr. Taylor: Did you go back to the telephone again? Witness: Yes, I stood there, and I hadn’t been there long before I had a message from Mr. Blackburn, and he said—

Mrs. Blackburn broke down, and Mr. Paterson adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes. Upon the resumption Mr. Taylor asked Mrs. Blackburn what was the last message she received from her husband.

Husband’s Last Message

Mrs. BUu/kburn: He said, “Have you got Wattie Cole out? lam going back to get the others. My God, it is awful.” That was the last I heard from him. 1 asked him if there was any danger. I don’t know whether he heard me, because there was no answer. I-Ic just put the receiver up. In reply to a question from Mr. Paterson as to a slight conflict between what she told the police about her husband’s first message and what she had said to the commission, v/Itness replied that, as the first statement was made immediately after the tragedy, she would say ho said: “For God’s sake tell Thomas to get the fan going, as there are men trapped in the mine.”