The Hutt Explosion

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 260, 1 April 1914, Page 5

The Hutt Explosion

THE LAST SAD RITES. FUNERALS OF THE VICTIMS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night,

Six of the victims of Sunday's fire tragedy at Upper Hutt were buried today, and the occasion brought out a very large number of local residents and people from Wellington desirous of paying a last tribute of respect to the men who died while working for the good of their neighbors. Four—James Comeskey (postmaster), Constable Denis Mahoney, Wm. Flynn (railway guard), and Michael Toohey—were interred at the Upper Hutt with the'full rites of the Catholic Church, conducted by Archbishop Redwood, the Very Rev. Dean Regnault, Rev. Father Daly (parish priest), and others of .the clergy. There was a large muster of the police, under Superintendent Ellison and Inspector Hendry, as well as a contingent of railwaymen and the Hibernian Society, with a. big gathering of the general public also. Among those present were the Hons. H. D. Bell, A. L. Herdman and W. Fraser, Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P. for Hutt, Mr. J. P. Luke, Mayor of Wellington, Mr. R. Fletcher chairman of the Wellington Harbor Board, and other representatives of public bodies.

In the course of the service, Father Daly paid a tribute to the character of the men and the manner in which they had lost their lives, working for the good of others. Though they knew the risks they ran, he said, there was no shrinking back. Father Daly also referred to the other three deceased, Vivian, Taylor and Pelling, saying he had kno\vn all of them as young men of great promise. At the graveside, the Archbishop assured the relatives and friends of the dead that they would have' the sympathy of their countrymen generally. These men had met their death while doing the work of neighborly charity, honorable and useful careers being thus cut short. Their actions had been an example to all.

In|the afternoon, John Wesley Vivian was interred at Taita, the Rev. J. McCaw (Presbyterian) conducting the service in the presence of a large gathering of mourners. The last' sad event of the day was enacted at Wallaceville, where George Taylor, as a member of the Railway Battalion of New Zeland Engineers, was accorded a military funeral, the Rev. Usher (Presbyterian) officiating at the graveside.