ACCIDENTS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22435, 23 June 1938, Page 12

ACCIDENTS

WATERSIDER DROWNED FALL FROM AUCKLAND WHARF Cpxess association telegram.) AUCKLAND, June 22, A waterside worker, Charles Melville Holmes, aged 70, of Eden terrace, was drowned when he fell into the harbour from the northern wharf tonight. His body was recovered almost immediately by William Lomas, who was also walking along the wharf, ajid dived into the harbour in an attempt to rescue Holmes. Holmes had gone to King’s wharf to answer a call, for work on the coastal ship Pukeko. However, the ship did not arrive in time, and in company with F. C. Shugar, another waterside worker. Holmes walked back toward the city along the eastern side of the northern wharf. Suddenly Shugar heard a splash, and he found that Holmes had disappeared. He ran to the side of the wharf, and saw Holmes struggling in the water. Shugar could not swim, so called out for help. His cries were heard by Lomas, who was a short distance ahead, and he immediately turned and aived in, fully clothed. Lomas succeeded in catching hold of Holmes, and with the assistance of a lifebelt, which was thrown to him, he brought him to the side of the wharf. Both men were then pulled up on to the wharf; but Holmes was unconscious, and artificial respiration, applied first by men on the wharf, and later by ambulance officers, failed to revive him. CAR AND MOTOR-BUS COLLIDE A collision occurred on the Hinds bridge yesterday afternoon between a large motor-bus of the New Zealand Railways Road Transport Service and a motor-car driven by D. E. Rout, Wellington. Both vehicles Were badly damaged on the right side, and were locked together so firmly that all traffic was held up for about an hour while they were freed. A woman passenger, in the bus suffered facial injuries and shock. No one else was hurt. The car was near the north end of the bridge when the bus, which was travelling south, collided with it. Several accidents of a similar nature have occurred in the last few years at this bridge, which is on the Main South road, but was constructed for one-way traffic only.