MT. EDEN EXPLOSION.

Wairarapa Age, 23 July 1936, Page 5

MT. EDEN EXPLOSION.

FINDING OF THE AUCKLAND CORONER. DEATH OF MISS P. M. CLIFFORD. NO OBVIOUS NEGLECT OR DEFECT. AUCKLAND, July 22. “My duties as Coroner is to find the cause of the death of the deceased, Miss Patricia Clifford,” said Mr. W. ,R. McKean, S.M., in delivering his verdict at the inquiry into the explosion at the works of the Colonial Ammunition Company, at Mount Eden, on June 4 last, when Miss Patricia Marion Clifford, an employee of the factory, was killed. “This is simple,” said the Coroner. “Death was due to multiple injuries caused by an explosion. It is my duty also, if there was any obvious neglect or defect, to refer to that. I find there was neither. The company in this case is just as anxious to ascertain the real cause of the explosion as anyone else. To ascertain exactly what did happen is impossible. One has only to make assumptions.”

The Coroner added: “I think deceased was standing, not at the machine, but at the assembly bench. The

machine concerned was only in use for a short time prior to the explosion. Explosions had occurred when the machine was first used and at that stage it was not in charge of a girl, even ■though the company had experienced girls in their employ. The manager, Mr. Marshall, worked it himself for a time, and although explosions did occur they were Qnly explosions of individual caps, not communicated to others in the vicinity. The defect that existed in the machine was removed before it was handed over to the girl operator. It was a slight defect and the machine had been operating without any trouble up to the time of the accident. I do not think it can be said there was any defect in the machine at all,” concluded the Coroner. — (P.A.)