FATAL EXPLOSION

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 253, 22 July 1936, Page 10

FATAL EXPLOSION

Colonial Ammunition Factory

EVIDENCE AT INQUIRY By Tplcgraph—Press Association. Auckland, July 21. The inquest was resumed to-day into the death of Patricia Marion Clifford, aged IS, who lost her life in the explosion which occurred on June 4 at the Colonial Ammunition Company’s factory at Mount Eden. Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., presided. Sub-Inspec-tor Scott represented the police and Mr. F. West represented the company. The Government analyst, Mr. K. Griffen, said there was nothing unusual in the cartridge caps used at the factory, which were of modern type. Dr. Gilmour said when he examined the body he found numerous percussion caps embedded in it. The body had received the full force of the explosion, and the evidence he found showed that it had been centred on her bench.

Albert Elliott, a mechanic at the factory, said his duty was to see the machines in that part of the factory were in order. At the time of Hie explosion he had been in the habit, he said, of cleaning the anvil machines' each morning. He described the process of the anvil pointer machine. It was not now in the same position as when the explosion occurred. Witness, who was one of those injured in the explosion, said that the machine in question was of Belgian make installed in February last. At the start he and Albert James Marshall had watched the machine. Cap explosions were at first fairly frequent and they had examined the machine for the cause. They had found that it lay in an accumulation of dust from the revolving dial. They had corrected this and there had been no further trouble. Later the machine was worked by the forewoman, Miss Coveney, for three months. Another operator, Miss Houghton, had operated it, and was then followed by Miss Clifford. Elsie Rena Houghton thought Miss Clifford could l>ave experienced little difficulty in learning how to operate the machine, for it was quite a simple process. The witness said she suffered slightly from shock and minor cuts as a result of the explosion. Jessie Elizabeth Coveney, forewoman at the factory, said individual caps occasionally went off, but they had never ignited other caps. Miss Clifford had been a very careful and efficient operator. For two months prior to the accident the machine had gone exceptionally well. There had been a few explosions of caps. A mechanic might have been called in ■twice perhaps in that period. At the side of the bench where Miss Clifford worked were placed two wooden trays. One held percussion caps and the other anvils. It was customary to have 5000 percussion caps in a tray at one time. That morning witness had instructed David Boyce, a factory hand, to bring in 30,000 percussion caps. This he had done, and they had been placed near the machine. There had been about 28,000 finished ones there from the previous day. Witness had had about half those taken away. Up to the time of the explosion Miss Oliftord had turned out about 22,000 caps. The maximum that would be there at the time, finished and unfinished, would be about 45,000 caps. The director of the company, William Chisholm Whitney, said as a result of tests since the explosion it was ascertained that percussion caps did not comply with British requirements and had not been used by the firm since. The assembly of percussion caps had never been considered in the trade to be a dangerous operation, although the usual precautions were taken. Following the explosion the manufacturers of the caps were communicated with, but they regarded them as safe. From what Mr. Butcher had told-him he-understood they were dangerous, although the makers still said they were not dangerous. The company’s engineer and technical superintendent, Albert James Marshall, said that since the explosion tests carried out showed that the type of percussion cap used would ignite readily and was dangerous. Other caps did not explode in bulk, but tests showed that these would. The mechanism of the machine was in perfect order after the explosion. The hearing was adjourned.