THREE EXPLOSIONS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19683, 29 July 1929, Page 8

THREE EXPLOSIONS.

DAMAGE AND INJURY. (THE PRESS Special Service.] AUCKLAND, July 27. Three cases of unusual explosions were reported to-day. An explosion occurred at the Waihi Municipal Abattoir last evening subsequent to the placing of some coal in the furnace at the hot water plant. The front portion of the brick. chimney was blown out and the upper portion was cracked. The manager, Mr C. Higgs, says coal was put in the furnace just before he left the works. Later he heard the noise of an explosion when he was at his house, but owing to the fact that explosions are common in Waihi in connexion with mining operations, he took no notice. It was not until this morning that he discovered the damage. The opinion is expressed that the coal contained a plug or more of gelignite, as the explosion was a severe one. The explosion of a benzine iron caused commotion in the Star and Garter Hotel, Coromandel, last evening. A woman was engaged in ironing when the benzine flared up owing to a leak. She placed the lamp in the fireplace and its explosion wrecked the grate, dislodged the mantelpiece, and broke a large window opposite. No one was hurt. Sev*re burns on the face and hands were suffered by Miss Olive Lee, aged 19, through an explosion in a gas stove. Miss Lee was lighting the oven at her home at 82 Brown street, Ponsonby, this afternoon, when the gas, which had escaped through one of the taps, exploded. She was taken to the Auckland Hospital.