ONE KILLED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20543, 19 February 1935, Page 7

ONE KILLED.

Explosion in Bush Camp. FIVE MEN INJURED. FUSE DROPPED INTO BAG OF GUNPOWDER. Per Press Association. HASTINGS, This Day. One death occurred and five are injured, two of whom are in a serious condition, as the result of ,the explosion of a quantity of gunpowder at a camp at Waikonini station, thirty miles from Hastings, late last night. The men concerned are:— Arthur Patrick M’Guide, dead, aged 38 years, married, with his wife in Dannevirke. Thomas Connell, aged 32, married, iri a serious condition. Alexander 11. Emmerson, aged 30, single, in a serious condition. Thomas Sanders, 24, single, condition not serious. George Algie, 19, single, not serious. Samuel Geake, 45, married, not serious. M’Guire was cutting trees on the Waikonini station. Geake was a County Council roadman, and the remainder were employed on farms in the vicinity. About ten o’clock last night the men were all in M’Guire’:? tent. M’Guire was testing a short piece of fuse, and after lighting it threw it down suddenly. It dropped into a bag containing gunpowder used for blasting purposes,, the explosion occurring as a result. The occurrence was discovered by Mr Frank Hildreth, who was returning home from town. He was stopped by one of the men, and with the assistance of other neighbours, brought the men to Hastings in cars, arriving soon after midnight. M’Guire died at 7.15 this morning. The condition of Connell and Emmerson is causing concern.