CYCLIST RUN INTO

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 74, 27 March 1926, Page 8

CYCLIST RUN INTO

DEATH OF A MEAT INSPECTOR,

INVERCABGILL, 26th March.

At 8 o 'clock on the night of Bth March, Frederick Witty, a meat inspector at- the Municipal .Abattoirs, was struck by a motor-car at the. corner of North road and Elgin street, while cycling home. He died shortly afterwards as the result of his injuries. An inquest intD the circumstances was held before the Coroner (Mr. G. Cruickshank) this afternoon.

Witnesses stated that Witty was in good health, and was riding slowly on the left of the road. He had a light on his bicycle, and a reflector at the rear. Martin Horan, a labourer, said that he saw a Ford motor-car travelling . about 8.0 miles an hour along the North road after dark on the evening in question. He heard a crash, and saw the car bump over something. The car did not stop. Witness went to investigate, arJ found Witty badly injured. :

John Dyson Dennison, engineer to the Southland County Council, said that on Bth March, at 8 p.m. he was driving along North road. Another car passed . with brilliant light, and he dimmed his lights. Something struck the windscreen and shattered the glass. Witness stopped his car- and went back to investigate, but it was dark, and he could find nothing. Next he heard wag that there had been an accident, and he immediately communicated ( with the police. The broken windscreen ,was the only damage to .the. car. *'"''

Ewart Hanna, who wa3 in the front .seat of the par with Dennison, corroborated Dennison's evidence. He said that no bump was felt1 at the time. ,Glass from the windscreen cut his face and injured the sight of the left eye. Dennison was quitf sober. ■

The inquest was adjourned until Monday to hear the evidence of the doctor and constable. ' .