MANGAHAO TRAGEDY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11254, 5 July 1922, Page 5

MANGAHAO TRAGEDY

QUESTIONS ASKED IN HOUSE NOTHING TO BE LEFT UNDONE TO PREVENT RECURRENCE. FULLEST INQUIRY TO BE HELD. In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon reference to the tragedy by \vlnch soveti men lost their lives in the Arapeti tunnel at Mnngahao, was made by Mr R. A. Wright (Wellington Suburbs), who gave notice to ask the -Minister for Public Works i f he could givo the House an assurance that the Government was in no v. ay responsible for the accident. The lion. J. G. Coates said that he would answer the question at once. The Government would see that full and ample inquiry was made into tot whole circumstances, causes, and sc forth, in connection with the fatality. Nothing would be hidden. Everything would be brought to the light of day, and he hoped that such stops would be taken that there would never be a likelihood of the recurrence of a similar disaster. Ho thought that the papers had given a fairly clear account of what had happened. He had received the departmental explanation; and, roughly, it was that the rescuers, one after another, were rescuing the rescuers. The papers had not set out exactly what had happened in that respect, but the whole camp and every man on the ground set himself to see if he could not do something to rescue the unfortunate fellows who had gone into the tunnel. MOST HEROIC SPIRIT.

They had displayed, all of them, the most heroic spirit; and he wanted to nay that the whole of the men who had gone were looked upon by the whole department as being one of the best gangs of workers we had, in New Zealand. We had many fine gangs in New Zealand, but apart from their particular skill as tunnellers these men were looked upon as fine men. Every one of them was looked upon as being absolutely reliable in every way. They were good workmen, and also good men, apart altogether from their workmanship; and what had happened was only another instance what men would do whenever one of their mates, one of their bitethens was in trouble. Ho wanted to say there and then that the Government wished to express extreme sympathy with their relatives. The department had sustained a very heavy blow ; and everything possible would be done to carry out any wishes that the next-of-kin might express in regard to the unfortunate afiair. Nothing would be left undone, so far as the Government, the dtanartment, and himself were concerned, to help in regard to what might be necessary. In Air Miller (the assistant engineer) the department had lost one of its brightest young men, one of its coming young men ; and the department keenly felt the loss. The same applied to Mr Maxwell. Everything possible would be done to see that a similar accident did not occur again. He expressed his sympathy and that of the Government and, he was sure he might add, that of every member of the House, to the relatives of those who had suffered through this dreadful calamity. MINING REGULATIONS ? Mr T. E. Y. Seddon (Westland) asked whether, after the inquiry into the Mangahao disaster, the Minister would have inquiries made to see if such work could not with greater safety he carried out under the provisions of the Mining Act. Mr Coates replied that the department had always kept clear of the regulations which governed mining, although it had a set of - regulations of its own. Mr T. M. Wilford (Leader of the Opposition): Why ? Mr Coates said there were a good many reasons why. It was not by any means unanimously agreed by the workers themselves that they should have the mining regulations for such work. The department had discussed the matter with the tunnellers themselves ; and it was held that it cut both ways. Although all these men were miners, they used short drives where they were suitable and other methods, so that the regulations under the Mining Act would not be convenient for them. Some of the men themselves did not wish for it. However, he would take the matter into consideration. He took it, it would 'be taken into consideration at the inquiry. ALLEGED DEFECTIVE FAN. AND PREVIOUS GASSING CASE. Mr W. E. Parry (Auckland Central) ■aid that certain statements had been made, and it was well that they should be cleared up. Was it true that some three or four months ago the Minister and the engineers of the Public Works Department had had their attention drawn to the danger to life on account of the ventilating fan in the Arapeti tunnel being defective ? Had the men working on the. job, headed by Mr Cooke (secretary to the New Zealand Workers’ Union) waited upon the Minister and the engineers and represented to them that Mr Maxwell had rendered aid to a man who had been gassed by the fumes of the engine, and that the men were in constant danger of being gassed owing to the defective nature of the fan? THE MINISTER’S REPLY. NO REPRESENTATIONS MADE.. The Minister replied that he had no recollection of the attention of the department being called to the particular matters referred to. Neither had he any recollection of the matter having been represented to him at any time, more than in a general sense by the tunnellers themselves. He had had the minutes and notes hunted up of all the deputations that had waited upon him in connection with such matters, and he found no record of any such representations. The matter had been discussed on several occasions from the genera] ooint of view. When the tunnellers said that a tunnel was too long for the fumes of their explosives, etc., to get away, and that it was necessary to have fans, the department at oneo complied. In fact, it was necessary to have these fans in any case when the tunnel reach is] a_ certain length. Ho had no recollection of Mr Cooke bringing this narticular question up in regard to Araoeti. Ho was not speaking bv the book, however. Many hundreds of these questions eame no every week, and he might he mistaken But he thought that the statement was unfounded, and that the matter had not hoen brought no. Certainlv. it had never been represented to hi n that a man had nrevioiiriv heen affected hv fumes in th is particular tunnel. H* wa? quite Hafe in Rating that.