LIVES PRESERVED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 178, 31 July 1933, Page 3

LIVES PRESERVED.

MINERS AT WAIHI. COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING. COMPANY'S GOOD RECORD. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WAIHI, this. day. A large gathering which assembled on the grounds of the Waihi Public Hospital yesterday afternoon afforded striking testimony of the general sympathy which is being accorded the twelve men who were injured in Tuesday's mine accident, when a cage fell a distance of over 1000 ft. The -Mayor, ]\lr. W. M. Wallnult, in opening the proceedings, said his Excellency the Governor-General had forwarded a message conveying his and Lady Bledisloe's sympathy with the injured men and congratulating them on their escape from death. The Mayor explained that it was at the request of the management of the Waihi Company that the opportunity had been given of making a public expression of thanksgiving. It was an escape from death under circumstances which would have lieen tragic and awful. In the history of gold mining probably nothing had ever happened to equal that miraculous escape from death.

Waihi's Immunity. The Mayor referred to tlie remarkable immunity from serious accident at the Waihi miun over a period of many years, which was a silent tribute to the efficient precautionary methods adopted by the management and observed by the miners themselves. The speaker also paid a tribute to the magnificent work accomplished on the occasion of the accident by medical men, assisted by members of the Ambulance Brigade and by men engaged in rescue work underground. He had been informed by the management that a full investigation into the cause of the accident was now in hand and that the brakes on the engine would be tested. During the afternoon selections and hymns were played by the Waihi Federal Band, under the baton of Mr. A. Carlyon. Thanksgiving services were held in Waihi churches yesterday. The Rev. •T. lugs gave an appropriate address In the Presbyterian Church at the morning service. Representatives of the manage' ment of the Waihi mine and the Miners' Union attended the evening service at the Methodist Church, when the liev. tf. Hall made special reference to the lengthy immunity enjoyed by Waihi from serious mining disaster. " An' impressive rendition of the solo "The Toilers" was given by Mr. W. W. Eowe.