The report published in the vaihi the Auckland papers mystery, purporting to be one made by Chief Detective Grace who was sent up to Waihi to investigate further into the death of F. O'Neill seems to us to throw no light whatever into the mystery, and however satisfied he may be that death was the result of an accident, we are sorry we cannot agree with him. Let us look at the facts of the case. In the first place^ before anyone could get to the pass or hole down which this man was sup posed to fall by accident, a barricade would have.;,to be removed, or crawled under on one's hands and knees, then the 9in plank that covered the hole would ..have to be moved, and then there would only be the space of loin for a large man, such as the deceased was, to fall through accidentally. De tective Grace says the barricade could easily be moved and.the plank shifted to one side, but does" he mean to say that the barricade was moved by acci dent ? if not it must have been moved by someone or other, and, what is more, it must have been replaced as the sworn testimony of the witness McAlpine, who had been over that particular spot since Christmas last, is that the barricade has always been in its place* : But even supposing the man crawled under the barricade and came to this hole of 15 inches, if he had only made a single effort to save himself, such as every man does when he finds himself falling, by throwing out the aims he could not have fallen down. 