MANGAHAO FATALITY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2454, 15 July 1922, Page 2

MANGAHAO FATALITY.

CORONIAL INQUIRY. INSUFFICIENT VENTILATION. The inquiry' into the Manguhao tragedy, by which seven men lost their lives on July 3rd, was resumed at Shannon on Thursday, before the coroner, Mr A. Fraser. Inspector McKinnon conducted the proceedings for the police; Mr Lougnan appeared for the Public Works Department; Mr Simpson for Mrs Maxwell, widow of one of the victims; Mr Bergin for the relative of Bernard Butler, and Mr C. Grayndler for the New Zealand Workers' Union. Mr Furkert, Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department, was also present.

John Hurrell, assistant-engineer, said he became aware of the fatality at 1-45 a.m. on July 3rd. Witness went into the tunnel about five chains, but felt fumes and gas, and knew it would be useless to risk any more lives. When he arrived at the tunnel he saw that the fan was not working. From the time he arrived till the fan started was 45 minutes. The electric fan was run by power from the “bottom camp” at Mangaore during the week and was stopped at S o’clock on Saturday nights, when the whole work of the stops, except for pumping. He had never heard complaints about the ventilation.

To Mr Bergin: Witness had heard before that some men had headaches workiiig in the tunnel- It- had been the custom for nine mo:.the to start the c .tgines on Sunday to cope with the exhaust and water, so that the men could start work at midnight. Ho had been told earlier on Sunday ■veiling that the kerosene engine had stopped, and that a man had been sent to tell the men to come out and start the fan before going back. Tbe system for ventilation was the electric fan operated at the mouth of-the tunnel. The fan was sufficient to carry all the fumes that went into the ventilation pipe. It drew 400 cubic feet of air a minute. The discharge of engine would be negligible in this 4,000 feet.

Herbert Edward Kinzett, tunnel foreman stated he had known of men having headaches in the tunnel before, but none had been carried out.

Ernest Hjorth, overseer at Arapeti said he was aware of the danger from fumes. It was. a direction of his that the men were not to go in singly. He had had previous experiences of gas in the tunnel. An assistant of witness had become giddy and staggered and had to be taken out. v . Witness also beeame giddy find .reported the matter to Mr Miller, who said he wonkl see into it. Witness said he had never heard of the men previously being gassed in the tunnel hut only suffering from headaches. He instructed the men to go in pairs on account of the discovery of headaches, losing shift, and fear of some being overcome and not from fear of gas. Alfred Lanksheai said he was sent into the tunnel at 5.3 ft o’clock to tell the men to come out. He did not know whether anything was said about not going back. Butler and Maxwell knew the fan was not working. Erie Davis, engine-fitter, said he told Maxwell at 7 >Vloek, that the gas was very thick and that a man would not live five minutes in it. He never had direct instructions not to go into the tunnel abate. His mate, Ereg, deposed to feeling the effects of gas in the tunnel at 8 o’clock on Sunday morning. Butler and Lankshear were also suffering from the same cause. John Cherrie, engineman at Mangaore, said the electric fan was stopped because it developed a knock. He told Miller he wished to close down and was later advised he could do so. He was not informed the auxiliary fan was not working. The hearing of all the evidence brought forward having been taken, the Coroner returned a verdict that the seven men “came to their deaths by carbon-monoxide gas poisoning caused by the exhaust of a benzine engine used in the tunnel, the said tunnel not being, during the afternoon and evening of July 2, well ventilated for the men to workin safetv."