WESTLAND FATALITY

Evening Star, Issue 22365, 15 June 1936, Page 8

WESTLAND FATALITY

BOY COLLIDES WITH GAR STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATE INVOLVED [Special to tiie ‘Star.’] GUEYMODTH, June 15. A sad fatality, with the unique fact that a stipendiary magistrate _ (Mr H. Morgan, of Greymouth) was involved, occurred on the Hokitika-Greymouth main highway in the vicinity of the Westland Hospital, about a mile from Hokitika, on Saturday morning, whereby a young Arahura lad who was cycling from Hokitika to Arahura was severely injured and succumbed on Saturday night. Mr _ Morgan was returning from a court sitting in South_ Westland, in his motor car, and in approaching the Three Mile overtook a boy, Allan Joseph Havill, aged 11, who was cycling in the same direction. As the car was passing the boy he either overbalanced or swerved in towards the centre of the road, coming into contact with the rear of the left side of the car. The boy was carrying a roll of music on the handle bars at the time, and this may have had some bearing on the boy’s deviation. As the result of colliding with the side of the car, the boy was thrown off his bicycle, falling heavily on the tar-sealed highway, sustaining a broken leg and severe head injuries. He was immediately removed to the Westland Hospital nearby, when his only complaint was the injury to his leg. He was X-rayed and there was no other visible injury than the leg. but his brain was injured and ho died as the result of combined shock and injuries. An inquest was opened on Sunday morning at Hokitika before Mr A. E. Benjamin, J.P., and the coroner. Following evidence of identification the inquiry was adjourned to later this week.

Neither the bicycle nor the car was damaged. Deceased was the youngest sou of Stephen and the late Mrs Havill, of Koiterangi, but resided with his fosterparents, Mr and Mrs Joseph Havill, of Aralmra Valley. Following the X-ray it was not considered that the boy's injuries were of a serious nature other than a fractured leg.