A MAHANGA MASSACRE.

NZ Truth, Issue 137, 1 February 1908, Page 5

A MAHANGA MASSACRE.

VOLUNTEER SLAUGHTERERS ON THE JOB. The Kook "KSrdited" to Kingdom Kum. •■■■• '■','}'{*' ■ 1! "-', ■':*■'■',:■■ i .. : - •'■■"■ '•■"■'. i '- ■ ■ . Jury Says Sufficient Precaution was Not Taken.

tort Ballarice might,withreasonableness, be known m the "future as Wellington abattoirs, a bloody shambles, an ekpansive operi-^iir temple, where human sacrifices are offered up periodically to the gods of gross negligence, culpable ignorance,, and the glory of a brilliant unifdr^n.' ; .The; casualties to date are interesting :-—. 1891, two men killed and' several injured at . Shelly Bay thrpiigh the application of a. red-hot iron to some gun-cotton; 1899, three men killed and one seriously injured at Mafeanga Bay by an inexplicable discharge of gun-cotton ; 1904, one' man killed and five . seriously injured at the fort by the dislodgment of a breach-block m a.12-pounder. quick-firing" gun, one of those out-of-date weapons which, find their way to this country after the War Office has adopted . some , other and more , serviceable weapon, (the . brutal thing was ; .Mpassed* ' as sound, by the: British 'auttbontdefc) ; 1908^ one death ' through ignorance of the probable danger zone 'of ■ .- >a . ,gun-, : cotton explosion* • „ .'.. ; ■ p' It is with the last-named- horror that "Truths at present, proposes to deal, with the object of preventing. If possible, future loss of: life. .On Monday Jast, while- the • Wellington volunteter corps of Engineers .were being instructed at Mahanga. Bay : m "hasty demolition" with gun-cotton, the, camp Qobkr^name, /Thomas Hallwas i struck; ; on the head \>y a fragment of .-metal from a blasted iron rail, arid handed in-.hls dish-cloth for ever.. '.'Hasty demolition,'/; as descriptive of the propßss. is apt and 'JUSTIFIED BY THE HORRIFY- ' ING RESULTS. The outstanding and deplorable cir'-! cum stance revealed by . the subsequent inquest is the pathetic ignorance of the responsible officers of the probable results of -an experiment which might have.- been attended, by. even greater mortality. Captain" .Syinoii', of the permanent force, certainly shouldered al]L responsibility at the, inquest m a straightforward manner, ' but the fact does not* mitigate; the circumstance nor justify sence of ordinary* precautions, was commented upon m: ther rider of the jury's, ' verdict. The r Engineers hadjbeen in-fcamp at. Mabang^ Bjay for h fortnight m. charge W Lieutenant Fitzgerald. , The cor,.- always seems to be m; trouble of some sort, for as A company of submarine sappers and miners it was disbanded for brutal insubordination, and a general, disregard for all officahs. . ,Now, it is a beastly Engineer ' comp any that doesm't. seem . to beabie jto handle a packet of Chinese crackers without scattering sudden death around. ; . Fitzgerald, was,- probably aware of his own incapableness m managing the ' 'demniizian- 'demolition". • tofusiriess, for lie got Captain Syanon to superintend operaiSdns on Sunday {morning, when ; all ; good Christians were worshipping).- . m the churches ' with varying degrees of piety. . Unfortunately, military experience of open landscape explosions is limited, and Captain Symion acknowledged his lack of knowledge concerning, that murderous attendant of any. explosion— the ricochet^ Symon was m charge of about 25 men, and Fitzgerald took half-a-dozen enthusiasts round to Kau Bay to play with some gunpowder. Symon's crowd pictured a.' wooden bridge m, its imagination, and placing a necklace of gun-cotton -around an 18ft, length ■ , ( pf ' timber; . the undaunted amateurs successfully cut it m halves. Imagination then conjured up a railway line, and placing a 6£in. slab of :guncotton under a. length of 'railway iron ■ the fuse was' lighted, the detonators banged m, sympathy, and a workr manlike 'hole was blown m the iron, a fragment of which translated the camp cook into kingdom come. Tbe extraordinary part/ of the affair' is that Hall Was standing at a tap 78, Yards away, ■.•.-.* WHILE THE VOLUNTEER SLAUGHTERERS were placed, iwith three intrepid photographers, only a chain, away, from the end of the smitten rail. T]he photographers weren't mentioned at the inquest', but they are herewith advertised free of charge. The explanation -is that aithoughi little is known about the effects of these open explosions (unlike submarine and bore explosions, the peculiarities of which 'are familiar), the' tendency is .to throw the shattered metal , out m front and low, .except m /the case of a ricochet, which is as uncertain and variable as a woman's. • temper. This swirling element of. ah explosion is caused by a fragment being .deflected by. contact with any substance, possibly with another frag.ment. which impels the deflected par- 1 tide to go off at a tangent m some other direction .i.. With J&# , men p;lac"ed at the "back of the charge' ipr at the side, the chances against them 'being hit are remote, unless the mad ,atom describes' a. complete circle ;■' "but a person standing at the tap, although outside the normal zone of fire, is a possible target for the sportive ricochet, as the experience of dead man Hall serves to prove. He came out to fill the camp bucket, turned on the tap, and didn't live to turn it off again, the result being a deplorable \*-aste of water, aY the bucket overflowed, s He must .have bCTn stooping over the tap, for a fragment of iron, ripped up the forearm and entered the head on the left side, causing a compound comminuted (see dictionary) fracture of the skull ;i also the skull was fractured on the right side, probably due to the fall. Dr. G-ilmer remarked that the skull ' . WAS A REMARKABLY THIN ONE, -,;;:'■ but as it. was subsequently testified that the fragment would have penetrated a galvanised iron. caboose if it had been m the way, the thinness .of the deceased's brainbox doesn't matter much. If "the skull was as thick as the nut shell of Mary-Ann Aitken the. result - would have still been the same.

' It -was the utter absence of precautions that singles this particular tragedy out for special mention. Symori acknowledged . to Coroner Ashcroft that no flag was flown to indicate to the unwary that explosions were taking place ; no one was told off to keep people out of the danger zone ; no one told' the cook that explosions were about to take place, but he was bound to hear the first explosion, and as that didn't blow his whare to blazes he was pro-, bably induced to come out to the tap and brave the second eruption. Symori didn't explain why he conducted a:n explosion at the spot that would mean danger to a person like the cook, who' might be expected at the tap at any moment. He couldn't say what i distance the fragments could be carried, but they were going with sufficient force to penetrate ai 'iron hut at a distance of 75 .y.ards,;.'" ■■'■'•.. '•-' ' ' ." „ ■ . ' ,/.. ■ "' ', 1 The company seems to have had exceptional luck m restricting its victims to' one cook, for Cecil Wright, a cadet an the Mines Department and a sappah m the beastly company, who was wheeling 351 bof gunpowder back to. the ' camp f rbiri Kau Point , arrived ore minute too late to receive a piece of iron m ■ his cranium. He found the dead man, and turned off the tap. Also, Dr. Elliott arrived, m his trap immediately 'after the explosion. If his horse had been " a Gold Crest he would have galloped into the line of elusive ricochet gymnastics just as the thing went off. It is a sinister thing that the \ J doctor was. asked to come out by Fitzgerald expressly . . , m view of: the explosions.; and it looked as though the juvenile commander" ahtfeipated an accident. Wright stubbornly held ' that the cook wasn't m the line of fixe, as he had observed the main body of severed, iron particles enter the sea m the direction of the wharf. When he saw the prostrate cook; he surmised that the late culinary artist was crouching on the ground to avoid any stones thrown -up by the explos;iori, arid solicitor Findlay (who appeared for the dead man's- family) pointed out that if Wright's thoughts were funning on flying stones -■ m the cook's vicinity he : must have imagined' the cook was m some danger. Lieutenant William - -Edmond Fitzgerald , yho had been experimenting with gunpowder m another direction, said he didn't know himself the exact time that- Symon's explosions were to take place, and no arrangements were made to warn the cook. ; The Coroner : Was it your duty or the duty of Captain Symon to warn the cook, if there was such a responsibility ?— (Sdlerice.) Captain Symon : It is the duty of th*s superior officer. I had charge of the compdny. : ' : „ You take the onus on yourself ?— Yes!. " '.'■"'•■■■ •' '■' ■■•• • ■ ; ■ ' -■ If there was any responsibility, at all, the senior officer' must be responsible ?— ; THOSE ARE THE: REGULATIONS. ■Captain Symon- added that it was j common knowledge m the camp that Sunday* was the day for. explosions, and the cook would hear .from the men of that programme. The captain let : this opportunity go by of explaining why the explosion was held so near the tap, which the cook wasn't warned to keep away from. Of course, nobody knew that fragments w«re going, to fly around the tap, otherwise the ! explosion would, have taken place m some secure spot. Hall's death will be extremely valii-t ah/le to the service, as showing that persons shouldn't go too near exploding, gun-cotton and flying railway iron, but this knowledge might have been obtained without the loss of a human life. The company's pet dog (if it >has got one) might have been told off to stop ' fragments near the tap, or if the dog. is a valuable one inanimate targets might have been left m exposed spots to intercept stray scrapsV No one can give back to old Mrs Hall her husband, 1 and as he had a son and two daughters, and was the breadwinner of the wife and one daughter, the sacrifice of his ljfe was not only unnecessary but brutally cruel into the bargain. • ' Coroner Ashcroft conducted the inquest m Ms customary irresponsible way. While one witness was giving evidence, the Coroner appealed to j Captain Hume, commander of the Permanent Force, for his opinion m the matter., Hume knew nothing about the accident, but he cheerfully expressed "the opinion that EVERY .PRECAUTION HAD BEEN . TAKEN by '[my men.V Mr Findlay wanted to cross-examine the ''capting" on this point, but Hume hadn't been .sworn. However, .he volunteered every infprmjatipn, and the" incapable Ooroner-rrwho has poetic aspirations and once remarked : There's Mount Cook. : Let's have a look —permitted a conversation across the ■ 'table, between Findlay and Hume, the; 'gist ,of which was that there is no known zorie of fire 'for that unaccountable and calamitous happening described as the ricochet, and a deflected projectile couldn't ' be foreseen or provided against. All of which makes the holding of the explosions man exposed spot the more criminal. It is probable that future experiments will 1 be held a mile cr two from any habitation or camp ohef, but it has cost a life to find out that -this is necessary for safety. Coroner Ashcroft, after summing up, said, "I don't think you can say it was not a case of accidental death ; that would be tantamount to a charge of manslaughter. It seems to have, been. an. accident, and it is for you to consider whether further precautions should have been taken to warn the cook to keep out of danger."- The jury found culpability m the following verdict :—"That death was caused by a piece of iron from ' an exploded rail striking him on the head and . entering the brnin f thatsuch death was accidental and by