Shocking Disaster at Cambridge [Newspaper Article] This
particular news report is drawn from a collection gathered by a
Waikato University undergraduate student, Pauline Hunt, when
investigating the hazards of life for colonial children during
the 1880s. Her unpublished study concentrated on two regional
newspapers, the New Zealand Herald, published in Auckland; and
the Waikato Times, printed in Hamilton. The types of accidents,
fatal and non-fatal, reported during this decade included:
drownings; injuries involving horses; burns from fire and
scalding water; poisonings, frequently from youngsters chewing
the phosphorus head on matches; falls from trees, over cliffs,
into disused mine shafts, and off a house balcony; gunshot
accidents; attacks by animals; and work-related injuries or
death involving machinery or moving vehicles, such as tramcars
or horse-drawn drays. Water, horses, and fire were the three
most common causes of accidental injury or death for those under
15 years of age. (Disease, infanticide,