CAR FALLS 250 FEET

Press, Issue 22599, 3 January 1939, Page 10

CAR FALLS 250 FEET

TWO MEN KILLED AND • ONE INJURED accident on napier-

TAUPO ROAD

CHRISTCHURCH RESIDENTS

INVOLVED

(P«ES3 ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

■ HASTINGS, January 2. Two men were killed and one injured when a motor-car in which they were travelling on the Napier-Taupo road left the roadway and plunged 250 feet down the Turangakuma hill, near Tarawera, at 6.30 p.m. on Sunday. The victims were:— Killed ..William Kenneth Weir, single, aged Montrose street, Sydenham, Christchurch. Kenneth Samuel Mack, single, aged 24, of 199 Tinakori road, Wellington. Injured Cedric Roland Hogan, aged 23. single, of 99 Main South road, Upper Riccarton. Christchurch: abrasions. Condition not serious. All three were meat inspectors employed at the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company, Moerewa, North Auckland. The ftve-seater saloon car, owned by Hogan, was being driven by Weir, who had just taken the wheel. While passing another car the saloon left the road, and rolled down the bank. After somersaulting , three times through scrub and.bracken it landed on its wheels on the same road as that which it had left, but 200 feet beIpw where the road curves back lower down the hill.

Hogan, who escaped with Injuries, was thrust through the roof of the vehicle as it plunged down the hillside. and was found about halfway down. Mack, who suffered extensive head injuries, died several hours after the accident. Weir was killed instantly. The car was extensively damaged. the roof almost torn off. and the body shattered. The police and a doctor from Napier were on the scene'about 11 p.m. The Injured man was removed to the Napier Public Hospital in the doctor's car.

CHILD’S DEATH TRAGEDY AT PLEASANT POINT (THIS PRESS Special Service.] TIMARU. January 2. Tragic circumstances surrounded the death of Kenneth Walter Barnes, the 18 months’ old son of Mr and Mrs Armer S. Barnes, of Pleasant Point, which occurred at Timaru on Saturday. Mrs Barnes was washing on Friday morning, and while her hack was turned the child picked up an old teapot containing kerosene used - for lighting the copper and drank the* contents. He was taken to the Timaru Hospital, where he died the next day. An inquest was opened in Timaru on Saturday, before Mr H. Morgan, S.M.. Coroner, and after evidence of identification by the child’s lather, an employee of the Public Works Department. and medical evidence by Dr. Halstead, was adjourned.

YOUNG MAN DROWNED IN LAKE (TSSSS ASSOCIATION TStSOXAU.) ROTORUA, December 31. Hapeta Whata,' a Maori labourer, aged 22, lost his life late yesterday afternoon. He was apparently seized by cramp while swimming at Otarumarae. Lake Rotoiti. A Maori girl who was rowing a boat nearby said that Whata appeared to bo skylarking in the water, and attempted to race the boat. She turned to row back to the shore, and heard him call out to her to come back, but, thinking he was still skylarking, she took no notice. When she reached the shore, another Native told her that Whata was really in difficulties, and she returned, but the man sank before ■he could reach him. The police later recovered Whata’s body in 20 feet of water.