ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 April 1919, Page 2

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

BOY SCOUT KILLED BY A BOMB. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, April 2i. An inquest on Kenneth Waugh, who was killed by a bomb explosion yesterday, was held at Trentham to-day. The coroner delivered his finding as follows: "1 find that deceased died at Trentham Camp on April 20, the cause of death being injuries to the brain, due to the explosion of a bomb, constructed by deceased from explosives and a bomb case found in or near a dug-out in the camp. At the time of the explosion, deceased was one of a party of boy scouts encamped at Trentham Military Camp. Considering the construction of the dugout, and the nature of the fastening of the door, I am of opinion that the dugout should have been inspected immediately prior to the boy scouts being permitted to make use of the camp, and that the scoutmasters should have been informed of the location of the stores of explosives and instructed to keep the boys away from them. The evidence does riot show when or by whom the dug-out was broken into. It appears to me that, while the dugout may have been sufficiently secure as a place of storage for guncotton and bombs during the period when the camp was in military occupation, and visitors were more or 1e93 under supervision, it was not sufficiently secure at the time when the camp was 110 longer in the same active military occupation, and parties of boys were allowed to have unrestricted use for a number of days of the portion of the camp grounds where the dugout was Bituated, unless the safeguards I have mentioned had been made use of. In view of the possibility of a full enquiry being held by the Defence Department into the matter, it is not necessary or desirable that I should make a more detailed finding." Wellington, April 22. Evidence at the inquest on the boy scout, Kenneth Edwin Waugh, who was killed by a bomb at Trentham, was given by William Mason, scoutmaster, who stated that the toy Bhowed him a bomb he had found on Sunday morning (the day of the accident). The bomb was rusty, empty, and had 110 cap. Scouts gave evidence that in the small system trenches in which they were playing there were a good many pieces of loose gun-cotton lying about. Together with deceased, they filled a bomb case with gun-cotton and attempted to fire it, but not till after the fourth attempt was an explosion secured, this ending fatally for Waugh, who, apparently, had been deceived because the other shots had only fizzed. It was further stated that in the dugout in the trenches there had been stored lOOlbs of gun-cotton and a few bombs, some being'empty and some full. By some person or persons unknown this dugout had been broken into, and of the original store only 51bs of gun-cotton remained. There was a door on the dugout, secured by a padlock, but the fastening was rather weak. Thomas Waugh, father of deceased, did not consider the dugout sufficiently secure. The roof could easily have been broken through or the door forced. Lieut. Moore, of the engineers, an expert, in explosives, considered that there must have been a detonator in the bomb, as it was a mystery how guncotton could explode without ignition by fulminate of mercury.

RUN DOWN BY UNKNOWN MOTOR. Levin, April 22. While cycling in Oxford Street at 8 o'clock last evening, a well-known local master tailor, R. Frechtling, was run down by an unknown motor-car, the driver of which did not stop after the accident, but full-speeded down the main road, dragging the bicycle, which was entangled in the car, behind it. Mr Frechtling wjas seriously injured, sustaining a bad fracture of the skull. He was removed to Otaki Hospital, his condition being critical.