CAPT. FAIRCHILD KILLED

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 310, 5 July 1898, Page 2

CAPT. FAIRCHILD KILLED

(BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION). Wellington, Last Night. Oa.pt. Fairchild, master of the Government steamer Tutanekai, was superintending the loading of some iron rails this evening, when he was accideotally struck on the head by a chaiu. His skull was fractured and he died in half-an-hour. His daughter was to have been married next week. Later. The Tutanekai had been loading railway iron for Greymouth, and was to leave in the evening. Almost the last thing to be taken in was a donkey boiler, two tons in weight, which had been slung and lewered down the hatchway to within a few feet of of the bo Mom of the hold, when a pin of the heavy iron shackle at the mast head snapped and the whole of the gear fell. Captain Fairchild was standing at the end of th 9 hatch, and the shackle struck him on the back of his head and crushed his skull. Two doctors were quickly in attendance ; but nothing could be done and he died in half an hour. On hearing of the.'accident the Premier immediately sent a letter of sympathy to Mxa Fairchild, expressing his own and others Ministers' sympathy, aud deplor ing the loss to the Colony of a public servant whose place it would be almost impossible to fill. Just before the accident Mrs Beau, a daughter of the Premier, had been on board and Capt. Fairchild asked her to stay to afternoon tea, which, she was unable to do, and he then returned to superintend the work going on and met the untimely fate that befel him. This well-known skipper was successively in command of the Government steamers Luna, Stella, Hinemoa and Tutanekai, having been many years in the public service. He was commonly credited with a more intimate knowledge of the New Zealand coasts than any other sailor in these seas.