The Daily News FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1930. THE PAISLEY DISASTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1930, Page 8

The Daily News FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1930. THE PAISLEY DISASTER.

That on the closing day of the year 1929 there should occur such a terrible tragedy as that which has brought suffering and sorrow to many households in the large manufacturing town of Paisley, near Glasgow, will be deeply deplored throughout the British Empire. It requires no special gift to envisage the scene of the disaster. To the people of Scotland, young and old, New Year’s Eve is a red letter time of pleasure and rejoicing, and in keeping with the spirit of Hogmanay a special performance, intended as a treat for the children, was given at a cinema theatre. As the price of admission was only three halfpence for two children, it follows as a matter of course that the building was crowded by children, whose ages varied from infancy to fourteen years, it being stated that they, numbered 1500. Only one film had been shown, and doubtless the young people were wild with delight, when the catastrophe happened. According to the cablegram received by the Press Association, the operator had rewound the film and placed it in a container, but how long it ■was before he heard a hissing sound and saw smoke issuing from the container is not clear. However, he appears to have acted promptly in the direction of removing the container outside the building, but on reaching the vestibule shouted, 4 ’Fire! Manager!” The manager immediately cast the dangerous package through a side door into a vacant allotment. How long the process of getting rid of the container took will be elicited in due course, but the children had seen the smoke and pandemonium ensued, a general stampede for the doors taking place. Under such circumstances it would seem impossible for any building capable of holding so large a crowd to be so constructed as to prevent what followed. It needed but one child to trip and fall on the way to any outlet and that- solitary unfortunate would almost instantly become a heap of writhing victims. A panic is always extremely dangerous, but among highly excited children it easily leads to such a terrible disaster as that which has thrown Paisley into a convulsion of woe. The only phase of the disaster that offers some cause for thankfulness is that note of the victims had to undergo the terrible agony of incineration. Both the dead and injured suffered from asphyxiation, either by the fumes from the burning reel, or from coal gas, many gas brackets, it is said, being found broken, apparently by children clutching them in the effort to climb over each other. There are many points concerning this sad tragedy which have yet to be made clear, especially as to why the volume of smoke was so overpowering. In the meantime there will certainly be evoked a worldwide feeling of the deepest sympathy with the relatives of the dead children, and sincere hopes for the recovery of the injured. The question of whether blame attaches to anyone cannot be settled until an inquiry is held. It will probably be thought that in a manufacturing town like Paisley there would have been no theatre, particularly where cinema entertainments were given, where gas brackets were in use or even gas was available. There need, however, be no alarm or anxiety over the safety of such places of entertainment either at Home or in the Dominions. Had the Paisley children not given way to panic there would probably have been, no harm done. The deplorable disaster seems to point the moral that more attention should be given in the schools to what is known as “fire drill,” so that the danger of panic may be appreciably reduced. Admittedly it is a difficult problem. In New Zealand there exists a general desire and effort to make all places of entertainment as safe a.> is humanly possible, but nothing can effectually provide against the consequences of a panic, to which even adults who usually display sangfroid are quite as liable as are young children. That the Paisley inquiry will be followed with muck interest will be only to be expected under the circumstances, especially if it produces any new suggestion relative to safety measures in public buildings.