STARTLING EXPLOSIONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 11 July 1927, Page 5

STARTLING EXPLOSIONS.

GELIGNITE AMONG THE COAL.

TWO WELLINGTON INSTANCES. (iS Y TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION.) WELLINGTON, July 10. An explosion occurred in a Ministerial room in the old portion of Parliament Buildings at 9.45 yesterday morning. A grate was blown to pieces, lumps of burning coal were nulled around, and the walls and furniture marked. Evidently a- piece of unexploded gelignite came with the coal from the mine. The only person in the room at the time was a typiste, who was struck on the leg, but, apart from shock, she was not injured. This startling incident was repeated, on Sunday afternoon in a private home, to the great consternation of the occupants. A lire of small coal was burning in the grate of the dining room of a house occupied by Mr. W. Parke, Kilbirnie, when the quiet peace of the moment was broken by a violent explosion. Bits of burning coal flew in all directions, the room was filled instantly with a cloud of acrid smoke, and soon a little girl, the only occupant in the room at the time, screamed in terror, but fortuntately she was on a sofa at the side of the room and. did not receive the full force of the explosion, and as in her fright she buried her head in the cushions, she escaped injury. The mother rushed from the next room and, groping her way through the smoke, picked the child up and' carried her out. Mr. Parke by this time had reached the scene, and steps were taken to gather up the burning embers and clear the place of smoke. The walls showed signs of the contact with the burning coals, and the carpet suffered to some extent.

Presumably the explosion was due to a detonator that had remained unexoloded during the blasting ooerations in the mine. It was a terrifying experience for the household, which included an elderly invalid in a nearby room.