AUCKLAND CAR TRAGEDY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22466, 29 July 1938, Page 12

AUCKLAND CAR TRAGEDY

BODIES RECOVERED FROM HARBOUR FATHER OF FAMILY STILL SERIOUSLY ILL ACCOUNT OF ACCIDENT BY BROTHER [THE PRESS Special Serried AUCKLAND, July 28. His wife's cry for help as the water closed over the car and his 10 years old son's reassurance, "Don't worry, mother, dad will save you," are the last recollections Mr H. J. Lawson has of his family, who were trapped in the family car and drowned in the tea just off the eastern tide deflector shortly before 0 o'clock on Wednesday night. Suffering acutely from shock and almost distracted at the loss of his wife and three children, Mr Lawson is seriously ill at the Auckland Hospital. There are many poignant elements in the tragedy. Mr J. R. Lawson, a brother of the stricken man, said this afternoon that the cries of Mrs Lawson and her young son were ringing in his brother's ears. He could think of nothing else, and until midnight on Wednesday he said that he believed they would be rescued. It fell to the lot of his brother and a friend to go to the hospital at midnight and break the news. When the Lawson family went to a friend's house at Parnell and found no one at home they decided, at the instance of the boy, Peter, to go down to the waterfront. After diverging from the waterfront road on to the track leading to the Pan American Airways base, the car, a two-door five-seater model, was driven a!on«? a rough track which off to the right toward the Royal Akarana Yacht Club building and past a number of parked cars. "My brother didn't know that there was no access on the north-eastern fide of the yachtsmen's buildings, raid Mr J. R. Lawson, "but as soon es he rounded the corner he realised that he would have to turn back. Attention Distracted "He told me that as he backed the car Peter said, "Look at the boats with lights, daddy," and his attention was momentarily distracted. Then, before he knew what had happened, the car was over the edge of tne sea wall and sliding down the sloping surface. Tn a matter of seconds it had plunged into the water. The spot where the car was found cfterward te roughly near the point where the seaward end of the reclamation area-joins the eastern tide deflector, and about 100 yards to the north-east of the airways base. Somehow he cannot say how, the father m ße a ciuse to of e alr P in the car, it did , of immediately sink. Hes made terntic attempts at rescuing his wife and three children. The two girls were lammed between the steering wheel : ' P .?i e t a was tT in m al;ut second, between EM2& When he found he could SEISES, my brother scrambled out of the water and went for neip. When Mr H. Tew, senior diver employed by the Auckland Harbour Wnard went below the surface of the water o'clock this morning to recover the bodies he found the car embedded^ 1 in Single up to ■*"**£ above the running board. Before ne could open the door he had to remove the shingle, and in the light of torches held by policemen who stood on a diving punt he slowly appeared with the body of Mrs Lawson. After three other descents Mr Tewreturned with the bodies of the three children. The circumstances in which the mother and her three chUdren met their deaths, the darkness of the night, the rain and bitter cold, and the 1 aint, searching rays of electric•torches.provided a mental picture that may not easily be erased, Recovery of Car The diver had little difficulty at midday in attaching a grab to the front axle, and when he was clear the floating crane lifted the submerged vehicle and carried it to Queen's wharf. Whence it was taken to a city garage. In the children's beds at their home were hot-water bags left there at 8 o'clock on Wednesday night so that when they returned they would find their beds comfortable and warm. All three children were pupils at the Avondale primary school. Both scholars and teachers were upset when they read of the tragedy which had overtaken Joan Lawson, aged 14, Peter, aged 10. and Gladys, aged seven years. When the school assembled at 9 o'clock in the morning the school flag was flown at half-mast as an expression of grief. __^__^ _^______