MOUNTAINEER DROWNED

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21975, 26 December 1936, Page 12

MOUNTAINEER DROWNED

SWEPT AWAY BY CURRENT ACCIDENT AT RANGITATA GORGE Samuel Barker, aged 21 years, eldest son of Mr and Mrs H. L. Barker, Alford Forest road, Ashburton, was drowned in tragic circumstances while on a mountaineering excursion to the upper reaches of the Rangitata river above Erewhon station, yesterday. With companions, Messrs Bruce Knox, J. C. Pattle, and A. Kelly, all members of the Erewhon branch (Ashburton) of the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, he left Ashburton early yesterday morning to climb Cloudy Peak. While the party was crossing the Clyde river, a tributary of the Rangitata river. Barker was swept off his feet in the strong current, which carried him out of reacn of assistance, and he was drowned. The body was recovered, and was to iiave been brought to Ashburton by the young man’s father last evening. Although there was no information at a late hour last night as to the exact locality of the tragedy, it is understood that the crossing of the Clyde river was attempted near McCrea s hut, about five to six miles above Erewhon homestead. An inquest will be opened to-day. Barker, who was well known in Ashburton, was educated at the Allenton School and Christ’s College. In addition to mountaineering he was an enthusiastiodennis player and was on the committee of the Ashburton Lawn Tennis Club. The drowning took place exactly one year after that of Maxwell Townsend, another member of the Mountaineering Club, who was drowned at the Rakaia Gorge on Christmas Day last year. MAN FATALLY INJURED STRUCK BY MOTOR-CAR ACCIDENT AT WELLINGTON (mess association telegram.) WELLINGTON, December 25. Injuries which proved fatal were received by a married man, John Richmond, aged /1 9, of 135 Grafton road, Wellington, when he was knocked down by a motor-car driven by R. S. Meadows, of Lower Hutt, when crossing Cambridge terrace at 1.30 a.m. today. Richmond was taken to hospital suffering from a fractured skull, a fractured left leg, general head injuries, and concussion. He died at 12.15 p.m. It was raining at the time, and visibility was bad. DEATH IN AMBULANCE MOTOR-CAR CAPSIZES NEAR HAWERA (I’REBS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) NEW PLYMOUTH, December 25. Leonard Norman Lewer, married, a labourer with a family, living at Ohawe beach, near Hawera, died in the ambulance on the way to the Hawera Hospital on Christmas Eve, after a motor accident. Lewcr’s car capsized on the main road near Hawera, and hn was thrown through a boxthorn hedge on to a barbed-wire fence. He suffered a fractured skull and other severe injuries. FALL OFF SCAFFOLDING MAN INJURED AT ASHBURTON Falling from a height of about 10 feet when a scaffolding plank from which he was working broke in half on Thursdav morning, Douglas James Grindlay. of 50 Aitken street, Ashburton, suffered a painful injury to one of his feet r.nd received abrasions to his hands and an elbow. The accident occurred while he was working on the additions to the Ashburton Club and Mutual School of Arts. In his fall Grindlay’s fool became jammed in a tin lying on the ground. He was attended by a member of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and was taken to the public hospital. FALL DOWN STAIRS L. Bennett, St. Asaph street, received injuries to the head when he fell down a flight of stairs last evening. He was admitted to the Christchurch Public Hospital. MOTOR-CYCLIST INJURED C A. T. Gray, 45 Byron street, Sydenham, was thrown from his motor-cycle and suffered a fractured forearm when coming from Redcliffs last evening. The cycle was thrown out of its course* by striking the cover of a sump in the road. A FRACTURED ARM Murray Ross, aged six years, son of Mr W. F. Ross, Pudding Hill, Methven, was admitted to the Ashburton Public Hospital yesterday with a fracture of the right arm, which he suffered in a fall. BOY KILLED ON RAILWAY CROSSING TROLLEY struck by engine (i’RESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, December 24. Struck by a railway engine when passing over the ' Woodward road crossing on a trolley, William Thomas John Hayward, aged 11, Was killed at Mount Albert about 11 o’clock today. He had borrowed the trolley from a friend and was returning home. He was picked up unconscious, but when a doctor arrived he was dead. 4t is stated that the engine driver sounded the whistle twice approaching the crossing. This is the second fatal crossing accident at Mount Albert this month, , a woman having been killed at the Selkirk road crossing a fortnight' ago. DEATH OF A CHILD MOTOR ACCIDENT IN CENTRAL OTAGO (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) DUNEDIN, December 25. A child named Anne Mary McMullan was killed in a motor accident on the road between Wedderburn and Naseby shortly before seven o’clock on Thursday evening. Her father and mother, with another child Who was travelling in the car, were admitted to the Ranfurly Hospital with injuries.