A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10270, 23 June 1911, Page 5

A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.

. 4 I GUN EXPLODES 'AT.-.-AUCKLAND. (By, Telegraph—<-l*reas ,-., Assochi»ii.m : AUCKLAND, Last Night. 1 A serious accident occurred at' Albert Park this afternoon, m connection with the Coronation celebrations, as a result of a bag gun explosion. At 12 o'clock the A Battery of the N.Z.F.A. -under Major Sherson took up a position on the crown of the hill overlooking the city, for the purpose of firing a salute of 101 guns. The proceedings were well under way, when an accident occurred in .the act of firing one of the guns, ais the result- of which three men, Sergt T. Furdy, Bombardier G. Evest, and Gunner A. Bartlett were more or less seriously injured. Just how the accident happened no one seemed quite in a position to say, but Gunner Bartiett, who was the most seriously injured man, had his arm badly mutilated, three fingers being blown night off, one of them falling into the lap of a .spectator sitting on a| garden bench" some distance away. ', Sergt. Purdy and Bojnbaxdier :Weai, were both injured about the face. .The injured men were conveyed to. a'private hospital. A possible explanation of the accident vouchsafed was that" the gun was being loaded, and the breach had not been closed properly when the explosion occurred, blowing the breach out.

Two very sharp shocks of earthquake were felt in Masterton at 2.1$ o'clock this morning.