TIMARU QUARRY FATALITY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3018, 17 January 1912, Page 30

TIMARU QUARRY FATALITY.

THE INQUEST. TIMARU, January 15. <\t the resumed inquest into the death of P. O'Neill, killed by the premature explosion of a blast at the harbour quarry a week ago, when between 50 and 60 kegs of blasting powder were fired, The principal evidence wae that of Hayes, who agisted O'Neill to prepare the blast. His evidence showed that O'Neill, in order not to keep the members of the Harbour Board waiting long to see the blast, disregarded the usual precautions. The fu*e "was laid in a groove in timber from the face of the rock to the charge, and loose powder was laid in the groove beside the fuse. The powder should not have been laid within sft of the face, but O'Neill laid it all the way. The fuse beyond this should have been 2ft long, but O'Neill cut it down to 6in, and some loose powder was lying outside it. Hayes remonstrated with" O'Neill that it was dangerous, but the latter said it was all right. Hayes sa'd he had seen every shot fired in the quarry for 12 years, and never before saw the powder laid right out to the face. W. J. Bardsley, secretary to the Harbour Board, gave evidence regarding experiments with the kind of fuse that was used. If the charge had been laid according to rule, it would have taken over four minutes to go off, but laid as described by Hayes only 27 to 28 seconds elapsed. The inquest was further adjourned for the evidence of the harbour engineer, who was seriously hurt, and is in a private hospital. Inspector Green attended on behalf of the Mines Department.