ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES

Evening Star, Issue 7309, 6 September 1887, Page 2

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES

George Milne, a farmer at Durham (Taranaki), has been missing since August 2ff, and is believed ter hattc wen lost in the bush. The body of William Wetherall was fonnd in the Wairan River, twenty-six miles from Blenheim, on Monday. Deceased, who who owned a mining claim in the the Wairau Valley, was of unsound mind. It was stated at the inquest that be had been in a lunatic asylum several times. On Monday, at Spring Hill, near the( Twelve-mile (Greymonth), a tree fell across Mrs Clarke’s boarding-house, in which were eleven people. One man had his leg broken and his back injured; three others, including a girl, were more or less hurt about the head. The premises were wrecked, A Sydney telegram states that at Silverton, on the night of August 29, the residence of Mr Cottrell, Customs officer at the Border, was burned down and his wife burned to death, only portions of the remains being found in the building. Another lady who was in the house had barely time to escape, but she unfortunately wa» unable to give notice of Mrs Cottrell being in the house. Three sudden deaths occurred at Palmerston North last night—viz.: S. J. Podevin, farmer; T. O’Brien, bush-feller; and J. Smith, a stranger in town. In two of the instances the men had been ailing for some time. Mr Alfred Dobson, an old settler, died ah eleven o’clock this morning. Deceased, whe was a well-known surveyor and civil engineer, arrived in New Zealand in 1851; held the appointment of Chief Snrveyor at Nelson under Mr Stafford, the then Superintendent ; was Chief Surveyor and Provincial Engineer of Marlborough after its separation from Nelson from 1870 to 1876; was Resident Engineer at Pioton, and superintended the construction of the railway from Picton to Blenheim ; since which he has. resided in the latter place, and practised his profession up to within a few months ago. Deceased was a brother of Mr Edward Dobson, G.E., of Christchurch.