INQUEST VERDICT

Hokitika Guardian, 6 November 1930, Page 5

INQUEST VERDICT

(By Telegraph—Press Association)

WESTPORT, November 3

The inquest into the circumstances of the deaths of the three victims of the premature explosion on August 29, Edwin Waldie, Thomas Corbett, and Charles Ayres, was resumed before Mr E. R. Fox, Coroner. In addition to witnesses who gave evidence on the same lines as at the previous inquiry, Robert Edwin Taylor, the only surviving member of the tunnel party, described what happened as far as he knew. The usual procedure was carried out in regard to the firing of the shots. There was no delay in firing them. He was half-a-clozen paces from the- face when the shot went off. The others were behind him. He went down with the conclusion of the shots. He managed to go for help. He had no idea of the cause of the premature firing. The Coroner, in announcing his verdict, said that evidently the explosion occurred after all the fuses were lit. Three minutes would give ample time to reach safety. He found nothing to show that there had been any neglect. His verdict would lie that death was due to a premature explosion of a shot fired in a. tunnel on August 29, there being no evidence as to what caused the explosion. In Corbett’s case death was due to shock and injuries. He expressed sympathy with the relatives, and also the Court's appreciation of the heroism of Taylor who, while seriously injured, travelled about a mile over a bush track in heavy rain and wind, and crossed a suspension bridge over the Buller to get help. Taylor is still an inmate of the Buller Hospital.