Tramper died on solo trip

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33384, 16 November 1973, Page 13

Tramper died on solo trip

John Paget Holmes, aged 24 I of Adelaide, who disappearec I while tramping alone in Arthur’s {Pass National Park, was fount j to have died as a result of heac {injuries suffered in a fall or {September 16. The inquest inti ihis death was concluded y ester I day by the Christchurch district Coroner (Mr E. B. E. Taylor). Mr Holmes had hitch-hiked tc the Waimakariri Bridge with the intention of tramping to Otira by way of the Waimakariri Col, then down the Rolleston River and out to Otira. Constable Keith Digby-Smith, ’of Otira, said in evidence previously taken that Mr Holmes’s body was found in a snow basin at the bottom of two bluffs on the 6000 ft col on September 17. It was recovered by a helicopter. “It appeared that Mr Holmes | came to the top of the bluff, {traversed to his right looking ;for a way down, then slipped and fell,” the witness said. CAR FIRE Susan Barclay, aged 15, was found to have died on Epsom Road on July 7 as a result of ' burns and asphyxia caused by smoke inhalation. Miss Barclay was a passenger 'in a car being driven by Cary .Gordon Chambers, aged 17, when it was involved in a collision with another car, rolled over and caught fire on July 7. The (driver of the other car was ’Robert Charles Mather. COLLISION David Henry Fletcher aged 18. died on Moorhouse Avenue on August 23 as a result of a ruptured heart and aorta. Mr Fletcher was the rider of a

4, motor-cycle which was inid volved in a collision that da?/ ■*s with a car driven by James Steel id Rhind, aged 63. on the interaecid tion of Moorhouse Avenue and in Selwyn Street. to MOTOR-CYCLE ACCIDENT r ; David Noel Debenham, aged 30, ct !died at Templeton on May 23 as a result of traumatic t°[asphyxia brought about when the ie I motor-cycle he was riding and a ' a car driven by Penetana Ben MMorunga, aged 31, collided on sr |the Main South Road that day. . j PASSENGER KILLED ’ William Henry CasDe, aged 62, '. died at Leeaton on February 10 „;as a result of severe head in "juries. The injuries were /[suffered when a car in which he /'was travelling as a passenger "!was involved in a collision with / another car on the intersection ’■of Beathem Road and Tramway i Road that day. BACKING ACCIDENT Kitty Irene McGregor, aged 64, died at Christchurch Hospital h ou May 25 as a result of severe ”ihead inquiries. The car in which * she was a passenger was being backed out of a driveway in ’Epsom Road on May 21 and wan r i struck by another car. y i Mrs Pomona Amelia Mc--111 Gregor was the driver of the J} I backing car. The driver of the “lother car was John Woodcock e I Shields, aged 20. STRUCK POLE Gordon Frederick Gilmour, , t aged 13. died at Chrintchurch Hospital on August 15 as a re "suit of severe head Injuries ’’ suffered when the motor-cycle he r was riding struck a pole in a Shortland Street on Auguat 11 HEAD INJURIES Ronald Johnson, aged 42, died at Burnham on March 17 as a I result of severe head injuries (suffered when the car he was driving and another car collided on the Main South Road that day The driver of the other car was Jeffrey Raymond Banka, aged 1 17. RIDER’S DEATH i David William Smith, aged 18. 2 1 died at Christchurch Hospital on 1! September 15 as a result of ' haemoperitoneum caused by a (ruptured spleen. The youth was ’|the rider of a motor-cycle which • I ran off the Summit Road that e day. PEDESTRIAN KILLED , Harold Stanley South, aged 78, died at Christchurch Hospital 5 on August 25 as a reault of mul ■ tiple Injuries suffered when he | was struck by a car driven by . James Lloyd Chapman, aged 60 ’(while he was crossing Papanui I Road the previous day