FULLEST INQUIRY.

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 3, 4 July 1922, Page 8

FULLEST INQUIRY.

Mr. R. A. Wright, (Wellington Suburbs) gave notice to ask the Minister'of Public Works- in the House of Representatives to-day. if he was satisfied that the Department was in no way to blame for the lamentable-accident at Mangahao and if steps would be taken to prevent a repetition. The' Minister (the Hon. J. 9. Coates) said' he preferred to answer at - once. The Government would see that full and la-mple inquiry was-made into the causes and the whole circumstances connected with the fatality. Nothing would be hidden. Everything would be brought to the light of day, and he hoped- that such steps would be taken as would prevent any possibility of a! recurrence. He thought the papers had given a fairly correct account of the accident.but they had not emphasised what was shown in the report he'had received—how the men had rushed to rescue those who had been overcome.

>. Every man in the whole camp, the Minister said, tried to do something to rescue those who had gone under. They all displayed the most heroic attitude. The men who had gone were looked upon as: one of the, finest gangs in New Zealand. They were absolutely reliable in every way, good workmen, and good men apart from their workmanship. The way in which the men went to the' rescue of their mates was heroic. The Department had sustained a heavy blow, and he wished to express, on behalf of the Government, extreme sympathy with the relatives. Everything would be done to carry. out any little wish that the next-of-kin might desire. In Mr. Miller they had lost one of the brightest' young men in the Department, and the same applied to Mr. Maxwell.