THE GUN COTTON EXPLOSION AT SHELLY BAT.

Evening Post, Volume XLI, Issue 83, 9 April 1891, Page 2

THE GUN COTTON EXPLOSION AT SHELLY BAT.

+- THE INQUEST RESUMED. At 10 o'olook this morning the inquest' on the bodies of Walter Horrocks Heighton (better known as Ross) and William Densem, who died from injuries received at the gun cotton explosion at Shelly Bay, wu resumed before the District Coroner and the jury, of which Mr. Charles Gamble was chosen foreman. Mr. Skerreit, counsel for Captain Falconer, asked that the witnesses Bhould ba ordered out of Court. Mr. Gully, who appeared for the Crown, did not think that it would assist the enquiry if witnesses were ordered put. Mr. Skerrett pressed his application, and it was decided that during the cross-exami-nation of Captain Falconer all witnesses I Bhould leave tho Court. The cross-examination of Captain Falooner was commenced- Replying to questions by Mr. Jellicoo, the witness said that as a rale gun cotton was stored in a moist condition. The percentage of water necessary to. keep gun cotton moist was 20 per centThat was the present service percentage. The percentage used to be 25, Could not tell how long ago this alteration was made. Theciroular from the War Offioe respecting the reduction of v'he percentage was received by the Defence Office hope before his ap- ; pointment. He hat? never compressed gun cotton. Gun cotton,- with a moisture of 15 pcs cent, would not burn . Ho knew tbe "Treatise on Ammunition' 1 * published on the authority of tho Secrets jy of the War Offioe, oorreoted up to 3'lst Ootober, 1877. A oopy of the work was ißOued to him a fortnight ago. Had never eo.9n tho work until after the tfoeident. Was aware of the regulations iesned by the War Office for the treatment of gun ootoV, "»n. Was now aware that in t)w " Tr& *t»M on Ammunition " it was stated that di v ootton might ignite at 277 dogroes. He 1 lft d not used tbe solder commonly issued 1 V tbo storekeeper. He had assisted at the *. «dering of the tins in whioh, the gun cotton wa s stored. Got the solder from Heigt wn (Ross). Could not say the melting pa m^ of the solder used. Heighton was not * tinsmith "by trade, bnt a boilermaker, ant "* was tho all-round man at Shelly Bay. Witnesß did not consider the manufacture of eoldcr of vital importance. It was, bowever, of importance that the solder should be as soft as possible. Some time before tho. acoident he gave Heighton a reoipe for making solder. The reoipe was three parts of tin and two of lead. Witness took the reoipe from a book on electrical applianoeß. Believed that the solder used at the time of . tbe acoident was solder made acoording to> the reoipe in question. Was not aware that a sample of the solder had been sent to Mr. Bradford, the Government Armourer. If a sample was sent, witness' orders had been disobeyed, as tho sample ought to have gone tbrough him. According to Moleswortb, the temperature required to heat a soldering bolt was 342. If a bolt was overheatoditwonld be impossible to use it for soldering purposes. Had been given to understand Binoe the oooideh't that according to the War Offloe regulation*, applicable to the Imperial service, it was w.ropff to. u se a soldering iron in oonnecvion with wot or dry gun ootton. A circular on the snb3eot was dated 1886. Witness had received a oopy of this oircnlar fi'om Capt. Powell. This cifcralar referred to Another oiroular dated to 1888. . , , Mr. Skerrett asked thai tbe oiroular sent to tho Defence Office should U P™ "». <"»« Mr. Jelliooo explained that hebad subpoenaed a witness to produce it. C'iobß - examination continued— " W . B " usual for the Defonoo Office to ■«. d . 1 ! im all circulars relating to submarine nt"" n & forwarded by tho War Office. B6 collected going to Auckland in June, 1&> «. on inspecting and instructing business. Left Wellington on June Bth and returned on the 29th of the same month. When ho was in Auckland he saw Captain Powell, and visited the offioe at the fort there. Diet not leave any papers for Captain Powell l , Was positive that he did not # leave» Captain Powell a copy of the circular prohibiting the use ol ft foldering: iron. Did not leave Captai* Powell any, papers whatever. Was prepared to swear' 20 times that he did not leare Captain Powell a oopy of the oiroular. II he was. short of appliances now he would ettU use Bolder to make extempore primerß. W»x> prepared to show that the War Offioe utillpermitted tho use of the soldering iron. At this stage Captain Falooner exhibited a box of gun cotton sent out to New Zealand by the War Offioe. Ihe box was opened and it was found that it had been soldered by one Berry, in November, 1889, thiee years after the issue of the circular referred to. The witneaß went on to Bay that he wbb aware that there was a solder whioh would melt at a temperature of 202. In fact, he knew of some solder whioh would melt in warm water. Did not know that it was possible to heat a bolt in warm or hot water sufficient to melt solder. Did not oonsider it dangerous to uso solder which would not melt under 840 degrees, so tong as the precaution was taken to place ashes on tho top of the gun ootton, and keep tho soldering bolt from heating the tin. k T e was taught in the Service to use dry aß )>s, and was not aware that it waa against the v'egulations to use ashes. When ho was at th e School of Submarine Mining at Chatha. m > afeoutlß78 > aßneß " STeie P laoed iv canisters' containing gun Qotton. As near as he could ft neBS tno P"m« r « maa>e on H.M.S. Hood at Ob v' fcnam contained 31b or 41b dry gun cotton TJk' Bo wore intended for expoiimontaf purpot. «• . T>»«? ? aB n ° B P ar ° n any of tbe torpfc lo boatß m the colony. The oystem of filling p rimers here was tho Bamo as adopted &V"»««*:. P rl , m f, ra which were destro> ed at the time of the aooident were being •.'nade for the purpoe* of enabling experiment^* 0 D Bmade ' , . . At this stage tbe C«fc™ er remonstrated with Mr. Jellicoe for tb» manner in whioh qucstione wore being pput. ut *? Captain falooner, whereupon Mr. »k e «°, tfc roße and said he could not undorstan. * how anyone who called himself a gentleman °°,V d ID9nlt tho witness by making " howling imputations of various kinds. -, , . His Worship pointed out that Captain Falconer's replies had been very »k» k 'aignt;forward, and expressed a hope th»v ~s* Jfllliooe would not continue to try tne witness's temper. The next question was whether the primei ■ in question were not intended for use on tha Island of Kawan, lately the property of Sir George Gray. His Worship did not think tbe question was a relevant one. Mr. Jellicoe said it was important that tho question should be answered, but after some discussion he did not press for a reply. Cross-examination resumed— The prhnore were not miniature mines, and were not sufficient for practical purpoies. Wag not aware that primers were supplied by the War Offioe to the Government of New Zealand. Would swear that on the day of theexplosion there were no primers at Shelly Bay whioh had been sent ont by the Imperial' authorities. Was in the smithy a fewminutes before the explosion took place-.. Considered that the smithy was a safe placein whioh to handle the oanisters. Did not« know that the regulations provided that guncotton, either wet or dry, should be handled' in the open. Had known of primers similar to those whioh were in the forge on the day of the explosion been made for the purpose of exploding extempore mines. When he was at Home ho had seen them used for that purpose. Had seen a primer containing 51b or 61b of gun cotton used at Home. Mr. Gully objected that a number of irrelevant questions were being put to Captain Falconer. The object of the presont enquiry was simply to uncertain the pause of the explosion, and it seemed to him that many of the questions which his learned friend was putting had no bearing on thfr question at issue. The Foreman of the jury said that ha and his colleagues were of Mr. Gully'a opiuion. The jury had now attended aeveral daya.and it looked as if they would be on duty tar ever. The Coroner— Yes ; for weeks. Mr. Jellicoe gave an assurance that it was" absolutely necessary that he should be allowed to continue his line of examination, Mr. Skerrett said that he had considered many of Mr. Jcllicoe's questions qnite irrelevant, but he had refrained from objeotting for fear he would be charged with an attempt to burke enquiry. The Foreman observed that in his opinion there was no necessity for Mr. Jellicoe to go into the whole management of the Torptda Station. The Coroner expressed a hope that Mr, Jellicoe would not prolong the enquiry unnecessarily. Replying to further question*, Captain Falconer said that the primers were larger then he had intended. He told one of the petty offioers that he wanted the canisters to be nine inohes long and three inches wide, but the order was misunderstood, and tbe canisters were made four and a half inches through. If they had been made tbrea inches through, eaoh would only have held 2lbs of gun cotton. Did not notic9 that tha canisters whioh Goldie wu filling were larger than the size he had ordered, A question put by Mr. Jellicoe was whether the witness had once ordered a man in Auckland to go into a mine with a naked light. The Coroner held that the question was not a relevant one. Mr. Skerrett maintained that Mr. Jelliooo was making a persistent attack on Captain Falconer. Mr. Jellicoe denied this assertion, and said it was in the interests of justice that be wished the witness to answ«r the various questions put to him. Captain Powell, of Auckland, would be able to give evidenoe as to a man having been ordered to enter tho mine with a naked light. Mr. Jellicoe— Wae it not reckless to take canisters filled nearly to the brim with gun ootton into a forge wnere there was & fire? Witness— Not if ordinary caution was taken. In replying to further questions by Mr. Jellicoe, the witness said that it was against orders for Heighton to use tbe tin in the old Snider ammunition oases for the purpose of making tbe canisters. The orders were that the canisters were to be of copper. It was a fact that witness had used them himself when he was working in the forge with Heighton. It was against tbe regulations to use dry gun cotton for the mines. The reason he used tin himself was because there was no other material about the plaoe at the time. At this stag! the enquiry was adjourn«d for lunch,

"When the inquest was resnmod shortly after 2 o'clock, Captain Falconer, roplyin/j to fnrtber questions, said a copy of tho Annual of Submarine Mining was reooived by him shortly before the aooidont. Soldering was necessary with tho class of primers used at Sholly .Bay. At tbia stage the cross-examination >«» interrupted in ordor to enable the erp -.}„„. tion of Arthur Dillon Bell, Engineer fjl. fonces, to bo held, t>s he was acxio- . s §.-. | ttn „- thecity. This Avitness, replying ' o Ut\Qn\lv stated that gun ootton used '« «" CC v -n« might explode at 250 de F/fJ £ but would certainly oxplodo at 400 '£*!' a htU Service detonation, was, j£H£m for an totto onn ootton .««•»«« of heat either Gun i/"" 6 ap W d , iWct t0 K llll 00fct0Du^ v cotton was highly inflammable. „ Jroßß-enmined by Mr. Jollicoo-ThoUKht \t was prudent to übb a lolderinff iron in fastening « ounmstor containing gun ootton bo long as the oovor was fixed on go as to prevent any of tho molten metal from getting insjde. Hard solder would only fueo at a red hoat-b«tween fCO and 000 degrees The higheHt tomptrature for melting soft solder was 500 dogroos.