INVERCARGILL FATALITY.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 159, 17 July 1901, Page 2

INVERCARGILL FATALITY.

THE INQUEST. [By Telegraph—Press Association.] Invercargill, last night. At the inquest this afternoon regarding the death of Mrs Sneyd, Charles Reid, second officer of the Monowai, detailed the correct method of using ships' signal rockets, and said that firing them in any other way was extremely dangerous. Sergeant-Major Wall, instructor on War Office explosives, described tho rocket. Among other things it contained a quantity of gu*ta-pereha, 3oz of gunpowder, and 2oz of guncotton. When the guncotton exploded the iron cylinder would be blown into fragments. He did not regard the sockot used in this case as safe. It was not strong enough to withstand an explosion of gunpowder in the base of a rocket, while its shape rendered it dangerous. He would expect, if a rocket were fired out of such, that tho gunpowder, instead of forcing the rocket upwards, would exert its force on the box on the line of least resistance. Guncotton was four and a-half times stronger than powder, and if the signal oxploded near the ground he would expect to find fragments of metal casing near by. The gunpowder produced had not deteriorated. Accidents of the kind might happen without negligenco in tho hands of exports. A socket two inches square on the inside for a rocket I:,' inches in diameter was not safe. The inquest is not yet concluded.