BUS DRIVER’S DEATH

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 125, 11 March 1950, Page 4

BUS DRIVER’S DEATH

SEVEN INJURED IN CRASH VEHICLE GOES OVER STEEP BANK (P.A.) BLENHEIM, March 10. After the collapse and death of the driver, John George Wilkinson, aged 61, of Tudor Street, Motueka, a 22-seater bus owned by Gibbs Motors, Ltd., crashed over a 37-fool bank this morning after crossing the Rocky creek bridge on the Blenheim-Nelson State highway, 19 miles from Blenheim. Seven of the 10 passengers in the bus were' injured and were taken tothe Wairau Hospital. Mr Douglas Smith, of Blenheim, a passenger, who was seated behind the driver, saw Mr Wilkinson slump over the wheel and slide down on to the floor. just after the bus had crossed the bridge. His attempt to seize the wheel and keep the bus on the road failed. The vehicle ran off the road and crashed on. its left side into the creek bed.

Men who were working nearby dragged the passengers through the windows of the bus. Two ambulances and doctors were rushed to the^scene. The passengers admitted to hospital are: Thomas Ed\vin Price, of Mapua, Nelson; Harold George Keely, of Matamata; Joseph Daniel Prouting, of Ruawai, North Auckland; William Alexander and his wife, Mrs Jessie Alexander, of Clifton terrace, Timaru; Jphn Munro, of 36 Nelson street, Blenheim; and Walter E'dward Sixtus, of Appleby, Nelson. MAN KILLED BY TRAIN (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 10. When he was hit by the north-bound Limited express at Porirua early this evening* a hospital attendant received injuries from which he died an hour later at the Wellington Hospital. He was Alfred Wallis, married, aged 65, of Porirua. Wallis was wheeling a barrow home along the side of the railway line when the accident occurred. The engine struck the wheel barrow, carrying it and'Wallis along the track.

CHAMPION CYCLIST INJURED (P.A.) TIMARU, This Day. The Canterbury 500 metres cycle champion R. Harris, was injured when he collided with a man while cycling at the Caledonian Grounds, Timaru, last night. Harris was admitted to the Timaru Public Hospital with concussion. His condition to-day was unchanged. WOMAN KILLED (PA.) NAPIER, March 10.. Struck down by a car in the main street of Waipukurau this morning, a woman cyclist, Mrs Lena Iris Atkins, aged 32, died on the way to hospital. The car was driven by Mr Edwin Stephen Shepherd, a motor dealer, of Dannevirke. SEAMAN KILLED IN TIMARU f . (P.A.) TIMARU, This Day. The fences of three properties in Otipua Road south were carried away last niglit by a car which became out of control. The driver, Able Beaman Edwyn Arthur Sinclair Watson, aged 24, of H.M.A.S. Murchison, was killed, and a passenger, Able Seaman Douglas Broom, of H.M.A.S. Murchison, was injured and taken by ambulance to the Timaru Public Hospital. Residents were roused at 11.25 by a terrific crash as the car struck the first fence, practically opposite Marston Road. It was arrested by a strong post at the property of Mr Robert Thyne, slewed round and with t'he front mounting the gateposts it was facing the concrete path to the house. Part of a fence which forced its way through the floorboards of the car pushed Watson from the front seat to the rear of the car, and he was partly lying in the boot when he was found. Broom had left the vehicle and was on the front lawn of Mr Thyne’s property. Dr. S. P. Abraham, who was called, found Watson to be dead and Broom to.be suffering from abrasions. Constables R. Forsyth and R. Payne htul the body removed to the mortuary. The car, a late model sedan, was extensively damaged. It was the property of the State Advances Corporation.