TRAGEDY AT UPPER HUTT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1914, Page 6

TRAGEDY AT UPPER HUTT

Widows, children, and other relatives of the men who lost their lives at Upper Hutt have the warm sympathy of peo« pie throughout New Zealand. Such a sudden tragedy—death for six and injuries for others— sweeps aside for a time the differences between groups, and all feel that they are- in one family, eager to help the bereaved. The cause of the explosion in the burning building was the subject of much speculation yesterday, but the mystery was not explained. As far as The Post is aware, no ccpert examined any pieces of the shattered structure yesterday, but it is not 100 late to obtain helpful evidence in that respect from qualified men. A theory which found support among close observers yesterday was concerned with, acetylene. It is said that after the explosion there was no smell such aft would be associated with pow,der or gelignite, and fragments of timber Were found, thickly coated with carbon— such a deposit as the combustion of acetylene Would leave. The proprietors of the premises were not inclined to accept Ihe acetylene theory, and they had no other ono to account for the disaster. These matters will^all come before the District Coroner in the course of an exhaustive enquiry. More important, at present, than the definite finding of the explosion's cause is the organising of help for tliQ dependants of the victims. Death came to theni when they were bravely risking themselves for the benefit of others. Mr. Wilford telegraphed to the Premier yesterday, suggesting that Cabinet should assist the sufferers, but it is rather soon to make a direct appeal to the Government. It would have been better for Mr. Wilford, in any case, to allow the Government to have some initiative in the matter. ' No doubt, j,t the proper time, the Government will be prompt to offer aid on behalf of the general public of New Zealand. Mean* while, the first call is on the people of Wellington city and district, and it will not be in vain. Those people have never yet failed to give a noble response to Biich appeals — and this time tho need of kindness is pet-haps more urgent than ever before. , A subscription list will bo opened at the frajnt office of The Evening Post, and contributions will be acknowledged.

The action of the Dunedin bakers and pastrycooks in holding their annual picnic on a Sunday was severely condemned at a meeting of the Wellington Operative Bakeis and Pastrycooks' Union on Saturday evening. The following resolution was carried : —"That this union regrets, through n few of the Dnnedin master bnkers not giving their employees a holiday, the action of thu Dunedin bakers and pastrycooks in holding their picnic on a Sunday, and upholds the ministeiß of the Dunedin churches in their protest against the Sabbath Day being used for such a purpose. "