THE TE ANAU FIRE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VII, Issue 202, 20 June 1917, Page 7

THE TE ANAU FIRE.

CONTINUATION OF INQUEST. EVIDENCE OF INJURED MEN. j I At 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon : the inquest touching the death of i Michael Donnelly, a fireman who ; sustained fatal injuries in the fire on : the Union Company’s Te Anau on } May 28th, was continued at the Na- ! pier Hospital. Air. Currie appeared I for the Union Company, Mr. Mor- | ling tor the widow of the deceased, j and Senior-Sergeant Eales for the I police. , William Young, greaser on the Te ' Anau, stated that on the morning of I ?>lay 28 he was sleeping in a room at j the forecastle head with A. McI Donald. Between three and four ! o’clock he received a call and i dressed. He then covered himself i with a blanket as best he could, and I made a- dash through the flames for I the door of the forecastle. In eni deavouring to escape he ran against > a stanchion. This necessitated the I removal of the blanket, and he then had to crawl on his hands and knees out to the deck. When he got out, he was picked up and it was then found that his back, arms, and head had been burnt. McDonald preceded him, but witness did not know how ! his mate escaped. He saw Donnelly j leave, but could hot say if he had donned any clothes before he left. The flames were half way up the I forecastle, and barred the whole I exit. Between four and five o’clock on the Sunday afternoon he went to the lamp-locker for oil to trim a i lamp, but there was no oil open. I 'there was an unopened tin, which ! he got O'Halloran to open. He did I not notice any marks on the tin. I To Senior-Sergeant Eales: The j lamp he filled was lit that night. ' To Mr. Morling: The tin was not i opened before. j To Mr. Currie : Donnelly slept m 1 the big forcastle. Witness turned i;i ■ between ten and eleven o’clock. i To the Coroner: He did not put • out t'ue light as it -was removed to ; tne big forcastle room. While dres- ’ sing he could see the flames, and the ! smoke was suffocating. ■ To the Senior-Sergeant: The last ■ time he had trimmed the lamp was ' at Oamaru. The oil on that occasion ! must have been obtained from a diiI ferent tin. There was never more ’ than one tin at a time in the lockerI To Mr. Moiling: If the chief efli- | cer said the tin was halt-full on ar~ i rival at Napier his statement was | not correct. i Angus McDonald, fireman, stated I that at the time of the fire he was I employed as a- greaser on the Te I Anau. He was awakened early on I the 28th by a weak cry of ‘■Fire!'’ j He found that there was a fire in the i firemen's foc’.sle. Donnelly .asked : him what was to be done. Witness I replied that it was a case of every I man for himself, and then ran out. He was burned down the arms, un- ] der the armpit, across the back, and i on the head. j To Mr. Moiling: The door io the I forecastle was fully open, but would j not go right back. i Thomas Gilray, medical superini tendent at Napier Hospital, desenbjcd the injuries sustained by Doni nelly whom he said was burned in j almost every part of the body. Donnelly died on June 4 at seven o’clock in the morning. He considered that death was due to septic poisoning. The other men were also severely I burned, but wore progressing favourably. The hearing was further adjourned to enable :he evidence of an expert on explosives to be called.