TAXI SMASH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 303, 23 December 1941, Page 6

TAXI SMASH

SOLDIER KILLED

FOUR MEN INJURED

One soldier from Papakura military camp was killed, and three companions and the driver injured, when a taxi conveying the party from the city to the camp struck a power pole at a corner opposite the Harp of Erin petrol station just before 5 a.m. today. The victim was:— Private William. Patrick Coneglan, single man, whose mother resides at Te Pihama, Taranaki. The scene of the tragic accident is the intersection of the Great South Road and the main highway to Ellerslie, and the impact of the taxi against the power pole was so great that the pole was knocked clean out of the ground, and the vehicle was very badly smashed. The injured persons are:— Private Leslie Walsh, aged 32, received a fractured jaw, lacerations to the face and is suffering from shock. His condition this morning was fairly serious. Next of kin Mr. W. Walsh, Portland Cement Works, Whangarei. Private Thomas Gibson, aged 22, suffered incisions and shock. His condition is satisfactory. Next of kin, H. B. Gibson, father, P.O. Box 5, Eltham, Taranaki.

Private Frank Victor Clements, aged 26, received lacerations to the face and is suffering from shock. Condition fairly satisfactory. Next of kin, F. W. Clements, father. Main South Road, Opunake, Taranaki.

The driver of the taxi, Mr. Edward Rivett, married, aged 28, of 63, Rawhiti Rd., Onehunga, suffered contusions and shock. His condition is fair.

According to Mr. Ralph Jackson, milkman, of 349, Great South Road, Green Lane, he had just turned off Great South Road into Garland Road when he heard the smash and hurried to the scene. The car was overturned.

One soldier had been thrown through a window and was hanging with one foot caught in the wreckage of the car. Mr. Jackson unlaced-the soldier's boot and freed him. The driver of the car was in a dazed condition and was bleeding profusely from facial wounds. The pole was resting on the side of the car and had blocked the escape of the soldiers in the back. Mr. Jackson then helped to break the wreckage away and release the men in the rear compartment, and it was seen that the occupant of the seat immediately behind the driver was dead.

Private Coneglan has been at Papakura since last October and was a member of the 2nd Infantry Battalion. He was previously employed as a farm hand.