ACCIDENTS

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20988, 17 October 1933, Page 10

ACCIDENTS

RELIEF WORKER'S DEATH BURIED BY FALL OF EARTH [THE PRESS Special Service] WELLINGTON, October 16. After being partly extricated from beneath one slip that had come down on him on the Akatarawa road this afternoon, a relief worker was caught by a second fall of earth, and was completely buried. Rescue efforts were unavailing, and the dead man's body was recovered after threequarters of an hour's work. The victim of the accident was Ronald Norling, of 125 Kelburn parade, aged 22, and single. The accident occurred about 10 miles north of Upper Hutt, and on the eastern side of a road which Norling and two companions from the Akatarawa camp were \viden r ing. The party was working at. the foot of a steep embankment, which was covered in scrub and gorse, on a formation of loose rubble and earth. Without any warning, a slip came down. Norling's two companions managed to evade the falling material, but he was not. so fortunate, and was caught in the slip. His colleagues then tried to get him out from beneath the spoil, and had nearly succeeded when a second slip came down, and completely buried him. To extricate Norling at that stage was an impossible task for two men, and they then returned to the camp, where they secured the services of every available man, but it was only after three-quarters of an hour's labour that the body was brought out. BOY AND CYCLIST INJURED i, TUK MS ASSOCIATION- J'KLKUHAM.) DANNEVIR.KE. October 16. A lad of six years, John Peck, received a compound fracture of the left leg when struck by a motor-car in the main street on Saturday evening. A cyclist, Colin Delaney, was knocked from his machine by an overtaking lorry and received facial abrasions. In neither instance did the drivers of the motor-vehicles stop.

BAFFLING MYSTERY

TAXI-DRIVEK'S DEATH AT AUCKLAND (I'KKSS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.} AUCKLAND, October 16. Without any apparent motive, the murder of James Hunter Blair, while he was seated at the wheel of his taxicab in King's road, Mount Roskill, early on Sunday morning, still presents a deeply-puzzling problem. Information flooded into the Central Police Station throughout the day. There was every indication that intense public concern and interest had been aroused by the extraordinary crime. Much of the information divulged to the police had to do with men seen in the vicinity at varying times. The consequence was that detectives and constables were given a tremendous scope for enquiry. Great hope was held out by investigators as the result of an examination of fingerprints on the vehicle. A remarkably thorough search was made, and numbers of fingerprints, especially on the doors of the car, were recorded. The car was also examined thoroughly for other possible clues. There were indications of bark in the back of the vehicle, suggesting that a piece of timber could have been employed as a weapon. The bark, however, could easily have been in the cab for a considerable time. An inquest on the body of Blair was opened to-day and adjourned sine die after evidence of identification had been given by the proprietor of the taxi, who described Blair as a steady, reliable man.