MINING TRAGEDY

Wairarapa Age, 7 February 1927, Page 5

MINING TRAGEDY

IN MILLERTON FIRE AREA. 1 FOUR LIVES LOST. J UNAVAILING RESCUE EFFORTS. WESTPORT. February 5. A disaster occurred at the Millerton Mine to-day, tour men losing their lives. It is understood that a test was being made of gas helmets in a part of the mine that had been sealed ofl. The names of the victims are:— Willem Pearson (mine manager) married, with family. William Maher (under-viewer), married, with family. James Cowan, married, with family. / Michael Ford, the well-known Buller representative footballer. Two men named Duffy and Smith were also in the mine, but got out. —(P.A.) TEST OF GAS MASKS. HOW THE VICTIMS WERE OVERCOME. WESTPORT, February 6. Inquiries regarding the tragedy at Millerton reveal that an investigation of the old fire area was being made by Messrs. William Pearson (mine maniHier), Duffy (underviewer), and a demonstrator in the use of . gas masks equipped with proto-breathing apparatus. They set out at 7 a.m. and made a thorough examination of the fire' area. On returning to a station outside, they decided, after a conference, that William Maher (underviewer) and M. Ford, a deputy, equipped with, apparatus, should also make an examination of the mine and return in half an hour. As they were not back in that time, Duffy went to look for them, and seeing their lights in the distance and concluding that they were returning, Pearson and Duffy waited a further ten minutes. As Ford and Maher did not return, Duffy re-entered the fire area, and there found the body of Maher, which he carried out. Assistance was summoned and Pearson, accompanied by Deputy Cowan, went into the mine to try to recover Ford, but they were both overcome by gas and it was not until 9 p.m., after numerous attempts by relays of men, that tfhe bodies of Ford, Pearson and Cowan recovered.

HEROIC EFFORTS. The men worked heroically to effect rescues, and were ably assisted'by the women who gathered on the scene with liquid and solid refreshments. The operations were conducted by DistrictManager J. C. Brown and Mining Manager Strongman, who had been previously summoned from Westport, where they were attending a conference of disputes committees. Mr. Pearson, who has been with the company since he was a rope-road boy, with the exception of a year spent in a mine in the North Island, was a native of Woodstock, near Hokitika. He was 49 years of age, and leaves a widow, a married doughter, a married son, and a youth 16 years of age. Mr. William Maher, an underviewer at Millerton, was a native of Bungaree, Victoria. He was 47 years of age. He joined the company at Millerton, transferred to Denniston in 1909, and later returned to Millerton. Ho leaves a widow and six children, the eldest 16 of a&e * w. Jas. Cowan, a deputy at Millerton, came from Fifeshire, Scotland, and had been 1,6 years at Millerton. He was 45 years of age, and leaves a widow and a family of two girls of 1(5 and 5 years, and a son of 13 years. He was a lay preacher of the Presbyterian Church and was to have held a service et Granity on Sunday evening. Mr. M. Ford, a deputy and Buller Rugby representative, was a native of Solway, 35 years of age. He was a big-hearted, good-natured Irishman. He formerly worked on the railway line at Tekuha and at Denniston and Millerton. He joined the Westport Coal Company at Denniston and later became deputy at Millerton. The tragedy has cast a gloom’ over the whole community. An inquest is to be opened on Tuesday. At a meeting held in the Town Hall on Saturday night, at which Mr. H. E. Holland, M.P., was to have delivered an address on the Chinese question, a resolution of sympathy with the bereaved was- carried, all standing, and tlqffjnceting adjourned for a week.—