THE MINE ACCIDENT

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXX, Issue 8498, 5 August 1933, Page 2

THE MINE ACCIDENT

MEN CONGRATULATED ON ESCAPE “A MODERN MIRACLE” REMARKS BY THE MAYOR'" 1 Before taking the ordinary business at the monthly meeting of the Waihi Borough Council on Wednesday evening the Mayor, Mr W. M. Wallnutt, touched on the accident at the Waihi mine and moved “(1) That the congratulations of this council on their miraculous escape from death last Wednesday afternoon in the mine accident be conveyed to the men who were injured, with the hope that in due time they will make complete recovery. (2) The council also wishes to express its sympathy

with the winding engineer, Mr H Mills, in his extremely trying ordeal.’

Speaking to the motion His Worship said the spontaneous expressions of sympathy from all parts of the Dominion had been truly wonderful, and he thought it was on occasions such as these that the most sterling phases of human nature became manifest. The age of miracles was supposed to have passed, but if there were such things as modern miracles then last Wednesday afternoon had supplied one. The years 1909-10 were the town’s black periods for fatalities, but they had left such disasters well behind, and he thought they should give full credit, to all those concerned in the prevenj tion of accident, and for the great I strides made in the adoption of means ! towards that end. 1 The motion was carried with coun- ■ cillors standing. INSPECTION OP GEAR During Wednesday'and Thursday I further official investigations were j made into the circumstances relating to the accident to the cage by Messrs J. P. Downey, district mining inspector, G. Duggan, chief inspecting en--1 gineer of the Mines’ Department, C. McLean, Government inspector of machinery, W. Bice, workmen’s inspector for the Waihi Miners’ Union, I J. Robertson, advisory engineer to I the Miners’ Union, and H. M. Warner. ! consulting engineer of Auckland and I representing the New Zealand Insur- ! ance Company. | Later it was reported to the press 1 that exhaustive tests had been made ' of the brakes and clutch gear of the I winding engine and statements taken from eye-witnesses of events immediately prior to and at the time of the accident, including a history of ' events from the time the relieving j winding engineer (Mr H. Mills) took I charge at 3.30 p.m. With the plant 1 under steam a series of tests had been j made with the cage running up and : down the shaft, after which the I shaft was covered over and a series ' of tests made with the clutch gear. ' The statement concluded with the intimation that naturally nothing further could be known as to the resuit of the investigations until Mr i Downey had made his official report I to the Under-Secretary for Mines, Mr ! A. H. Kimbell.

Pending the release of the mining inspector’s report the cause of the accident, if ascertained by the investigations referred to, will remain unknown, but it has been unofficially stated that the tests conducted failed to disclose any defects in the winding gear in use at the time of the mishap. MESSAGE OF SYMPATHY Writing from his home in Grange road, Mount Eden, oh July 2Sth, the Rev. T. G. Carr, formerly of Waihi. sent the following message of sympathy to the Rev. G. Hall, minister in charge of the Methodist Church: “When I read in the Herald of the terrible accident at the mine in Waihi I felt a thrill of sympathy for those dear men and their families, and I thought, as an old Waihi minister, I must just drop you a line to express to your people how thankful I was that there was no loss of life. Will you please express to your people my sincerest fellow feeling with them. On reading this morning’s paper I felt deep regard for the medical men who so pluckily hazarded their own lives in attempting to relieve the injured. Please convey to the sufferers my kindest regards and may God bless you in your labours in their midst.’' At the monthly meeting of the Waihi Returned Soldiers’ Association on Saturday evening last the president, Mr J. Mitchell, moved a v ote or sympathy with the sufferers and expressed a hope for their speedy recovery.