THE INVERCARGILL DISASTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 146, 17 July 1901, Page 2

THE INVERCARGILL DISASTER.

Pas PRBHB ASSOCIATION. I ntekoarqill July 1 6. | At the irqu-s' on th'i victim of tho pxplosim, tha carpenter who mads tbe soi'ktt deposed that Captain McGilvroy wasted him to b re a twoinch hole thr ugh the mil, but he had I not h proper and at tt e Gap tain's suggestion made a square socket He gave no one permission; to discharge fireworks

Lateb. At tha Sneyd inqu- st thi-* aft' rnoon Chaff. R i'l, second iffi er of the Monowai, de' ailed th» c>roct me'boi of U'ing ships' signal rocket 9, and raid firing any o'her way wis extremaly dangerous. Sergeant-Major Wall, instructor on War Office explosives, described the rocke 1 , which, among other things, coot tined a qmntity (f guttapercha, 3oz (. f gunpowder, and 2oz of guneo'ton. When the.gancnt'on exploded the iron cylinder would be blown iut) fragments. He did not regard the socket used in this cife as sife, es it was no 1 : strane; enough to withstand the explosion of the gunpowd-r in th' base of the'rocket, while its shape rendered it dangerous. He would expo' if a roekafc were fired out of such gunpowder, instead of fo-c'ng the rocket upwa'ds, it would fx-rtits force on the box on the line of the le s* resistance. Guacotton was four aud a-half times stronger than powder, and if a figoal •■xploded near tha ground hi would expect: *o find fragrae .;s of the aie al fragments close by. Tne gunpowder produced had not deteriorated. ' Accidents of th ; s kind might happen r.'khout negligence in the hands of ex par j A rocket Ifio, in diameter was not safe. I Tbe inquest was not concluded,