ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 52, 2 March 1908, Page 7

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

INQUEST AT UPPER HUTT. A verdict of accidental death, with no blame attachable to any one, was returned at the inquest held on Saturday afternoon at the Upper Hutt on the body of Noel Hendrick Lay, & two-year-old son of George Labam Lay, storekeeper, of Upper Hutt, who met his death by being run over by a cart on tli3 27th ult. Evidence produced showed that the deceased had been playing uu the side of the road, and, when a milk cart driven by a boy named Archibald John Oraig, was approaching, ran out suddenly, with the result that he was knocked down by the horse, and then run over by the wheel of the cart. The boy, di'jvi'Jg the c4rt did not ,see the child run 1 across the rtjad until it was too late to avoid the accident. Jurors were 'of opinion that the driver of the cavt was in no way to blame for tha accident, and that he did all that was possible under the • circumstances. Mr. Simpson, coroner, conducted the inquest. A YOUTH DROWNED. [BT TELEGBAFII — PBESS ASSOCIATION.] GISBORNE, This Day. Henry Tobee, aged 18, of Mount Roskill, Auckland, went for a bathe yesterday afternoon. He sank suddenly and was drowned, although assistance was almost immediately to hand. The body was recovered 4| hours later. WHANGAHEI, 29th February. David Stunoch, engineer on the steamer Gael, plying between Auckland and Waipu, had his left foot torn completely off by a wire rope last night. The steamer got into shallow water in the Waipu river, and a rope was requisitioned to haul her into the channel. Stunoch's foot wa3 caught in the bight of the rope as it was tightening, and the bone was amputated at the Whangarci hospital this morning. The patient is in a precarious condition, due to the operation and shock. WHANGAREI, This Day. As an old settler named James William Reed, accompanied by his wife, were driving in a buggy from their home at Parahaki to attend the morning service in Whangarei yesterday, the horso took fright and dashed down the Paranui hill (which has a very steep -grade), resulting in the vehicle capsizing and being smashed to atoms. Mrs. Ried was so badly injured that she died thtce hours afterwards. Mr. Reed was seriously shaken, but is reported to be pro gressing favourably. ' CHRISTCHURCH, lsfc March. S. R. Merrett, who was injured in motor-car accident op Saturday week, died at the hospital at 5 o'clock this morning. After hearing evidence of Dr. Crooke, house burgeon at the hospital, as to tho condition of Merrett when admitted, .he inquest was adjourned to sth March, in order to allow of further inquiries being made as to the exact cause of the accident. WAIROA, 29th February. A trap acitlent occurred in Turiroa cutting, near Wairoa, to-day. A buggy capsized over a bank, and Mrs. Ferguson, a visitor to Kiwi station, had an arm and a leg broken. 'Mrs. Mackay and 'other occupants escaped with some bruises. BLENHEIM, This Day. Maggie Simpson, aged fourteen, was badly burned on Saturday evening through her clothes catching fire from a candle while she was putting younger children to bed. Sho was taken to the hospital where hhe died at ono o'clock yesterday morning. The parents and an elder eisster were absent from tho house at the time of the accident. AUCKLAND, This Day. A married woman named Lilian Britten, who gave birth to a child a few days ago, died in the hospital fiom blood poisoning yesterday. An inquest will be necessary as the medical certificate of doath is withheld. It io ununderatood that a nurse attending Mrs. Britten asked that a medical man should be called in, but sho refused to ego the doctor until sho was so ill that it became absolutely necessary. Then Dr. Murphy ordered her immediate removal to the hospital. An elderly woman, Eliza Elizabeth Milton, while proceeding to visit some friends in one of the 'bays on Waihekc Islands, died in a small boat in which *he was being rowed ashore. Evidence at the inquest disclosed that ehe suffered from heart disease. A carpente'- named John Pearl was admitted to the hospitnl on Saturday evening suffering from a broken leg caused by slipping on a footpath near the Basin Reserve. Pearl is a single man.