Corner's Inquiry.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8102, 31 May 1906, Page 3

Corner's Inquiry.

The Ptomaine Oases.

9Lt tTfiict of the Jury.

After we went to press yesterday the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding tho death of Mr C. Hosking was continued. Harding Matthews, who supervised the small goods department of the N.I. Bacon Co., was further examined as follows:—

To the coroner: The "pickle" the tongues under consideration were put to was made up in quite the usual way. To Mr Innes: Tbie tongues were not examined while in his department. Could not say as to whether the boxes and baskets used to carry the tongues from the slaughter house were ever replaced. The ones used to convey the small goods to Palmerston were scalded out regularly by a man. If necessary they were so dealt with every time they made the trip. They were never disinfected Could not say when the premises were last inspected by the Health Department prior to the trouble, but Mr De Lisle had been there since. Was not aware that in his last report the Health Officer had declined to give a certificate that the baskets were clean. He was not a"ware of any objection being made by the officer. There were two baskets in use for carrying goods to Palmerston. The one seen by Mr De Lisle had not been used for months past. The officer had had some discussion with witness touching the baskets, in the course of which he was told that they were regularly scalded out. The tongues were skinned by hand by witness and another mau after being cooked. No forks or other instruments were used, the baro fingers being used to remove the .skins.

To Mr Guy : Witness had had about 33 years' experience. All the stuff sent out in May was done under his own supervision. To the best of his knowledge all the tongues were all sound and in good order. Every precaution was taken. He had eaten some of the pressed tongue on May sth but was not made ill thereby.

To the coroner: He thought the tongue of which he ate must have come from a different " block " from the one sold to the other witnesses.

To the foreman : In all his experience ho never knew any tongues coming in from the slaughter-house at all tainted The pickle into which these particular tongues were put was made on May Ist.

William McCaffey said he had control of the slaughter-house at the N. I. Bacon Co.'s factory at Woodville. The carcases as killed were inspected by a Government official, Dr Staveley. The system on which the latter worked was described with much detail. If any carcase is condemned it and all the offal is at once removed for the purpose of destroying. He did not think it possible that the men could neglect to remove the tongue belonging to a condemned beast. All the trays, etc., were thoroughly washed every time they were used.

To Mr Innes: The inspector was always present when the tongues were removed from carcases. It was possible that in the case of a carcass being condemned a mistake might be made, and the tongue left and passed on through the factory instead of going to be destroyed.

Frederick Kuch said he was assistant in the small goods department at the Woodville factory. His evidence corroborated that of the previous witness Mathers. He said that if there was any sign of the " pickle " going bad it would be reported and seen to at once. The press and other utensils were always carefully cleaned. To the Foreman: Occasionally he had known of numbers of tongues being kept m the freezer for a time before being pressed. The ones in question, however, were used at once.

Walter Staples, medical practitioner, said lie was a Government Veterinarian and inspected the Woodville factory of the North Island Bacon Company. His duty there was to see tuat the Slaughtering Act was carried out and no diseased meat passed through. He described at length the method used of killing the pigs there. He had no official control over the small goods department. To Mr Guy: He had ney er had occasion to complain of the state of the works. In case he made any suggestions he found they were always carried out promptly. The Woodville works were well conducted. The doctor also described in brief the symptoms exhibited by a person suffering from ptomaine poisoning. A man poisoned at noon on Saturday would hardly be in a fit condition to go on a 20-mile journev on the following Monday morning. The poison affected different people in various ways. To Mr Innes: The symptoms described by the witnesses would be those of ptomaine poisoning. John Giiruth, Chief Veterinarian, described how ptomaine poisoning came about. It was caused by the growth of bacteria. Ptomaine poisoning from pressed tongue in this colony was a very unusual thing. A tongue or any meat could bo infected with ptomaine either before or after cooking. A healthy tongue properly and carefully treated would be very unlikely to cause ptomaine poisoning. To Mr Innes : If one dirty tongue was put in the mould it was quite possible that the whole would be infected. ~ , To Mr Guy: If two elderly persons were poisoned with ptomaine on Saturday, he would hardly expect them to go for a journey on the following Monday. The quantity of the poison taken had a lot to do with the severity of the subsequent attack. The fact that deceased was able to go out on the Monday mdicated that the attack was a slight one. To the foreman: The ptomaine is refclly the excreta of the bacteria contained in the meat. Also ptomaine might be produced in the stomach after the meat was eaten. In that case no one would necessarily be responsible. The ptomaine may b6 present in suflicient quantity to make a person unwell but not enough to cause death. William Greig, medical practitioner, said he attended deceased and other members of his family recently. He was first called in on Monday, May 7th, to see Mr and Mrs Arthur Hoskmg. Thev were suffering irom nausea, vomiting, pain and considerable nervous i prostration. He made inquiries as to the cause and his suspicions fell upon some tongue they had eaten on the Saturday, He was influenced to some extent by the fact of having attended several people on the day before suffering from similar symptoms. He found nothing else to account for their ldness, and from all the circumstances concluded that they were suffering from S poisoning. *He blamed the tongue Inquiry as to what members of the

household had partaken of the same fooci s'h'owed that out of seven/ pers6ng" six had suffered from similar syhi-p. torns. On Saturday, 12th inst., he learned that Mr Chas. Hoskinp," senr , vlm whs then at Bulls, w*s very ill. Gving out there, lie found lum in a state or collapse. " He died on Saturday evening. -A. post mortem excuniuntiou was made on Sunday evening. Indications of severe irritation of the stomach and bowels were found. From 2nd to 20th April he had attended Mr Hosking for a severe attack of bronchitis. At the tunc of death he had not quite recovered from this former illness. From the symptoms described to the witness at the time of deceased's death lie concluded that for about 24 hours before he died he had suffered from heart failure largely contributed to by meat poisoning while in a weakened condition from bronchitis. Witness sent ccrtain portions of the body of deceased to Wellington for analysis. Professor MacLaurin's report was to the following effect" He had made analysis, but had found no trace of poison. A special examination was made for ptomaines, but none could be recovered. This fact, he said, did not, however, preclude the possibility of death being due to ptomaine poisoning. Most of the poisoning might have been removed from the system before death. This was more probable from the fact that ihe stomach and intestines were practically empty." The witness said that this reply was just about what he expected.

To Mr Innes ; The heart failure was probably brought on by the illness following the poisoning. Frederick De Lisle, medical practitioner, said he was District Health Officer for.Hawke's Bay. The Woodville factory was under his care. He visited it on the 17th inst, as a result of the occurrence. The factory was then quite clean, even though the visit was a surprise one. He described in detail his visit, the items of his statement corroborating the evidence of pievious witnssses.

Robert Makgill, medical practitioner, said he was Government Bacteriologist and Health Officer to the Wellington district. He had a share in the latter part of Professor Maclaurin's examination and concurred in the report, mentioned above.

To the foreman : From the evidence he had heard he gathered that deceased had suffered from ptomaine poisoning. He could not say he die from it however. This closed the evidence. The jury then retired, and, after an absence of ten minutes, returned with a unanimous verdict that " The death of Mr Charles Hosking, tenr., was from heart failure caused by exhaustion from the effects of ptomaine poisoning through having eaten some pressed tongues prepared by the North Island Bacon Factory; the presence of the poison in the meat seems from the evidence to be purely unaccountable, and no blame is attachable to anyone."

The enquiry was adjourned at a quarter to seven p m., after having lasted from 10.15 o'clock in the morning.