WEEK-END ACCIDENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 November 1930, Page 5

WEEK-END ACCIDENTS

LORRY-PASSENGER KILLED

VEHICLE'S DASH DOWN HILL

[pee pbess association.] WELLINGTON, November 23. A passenger in the cab of a motor lorry was killed when the vehicle, which was heavily laden with drums of petrol, got out of control on the way down the Paekakariki Hill on Saturday. After careering wildly down the hill at a high speed for about 200 yards, it left the road, and somersaulted three times, being prevented from rolling 600 feet to the bottom of the hill only by striking a telegraph pole. The man was killed instantly when he jumped from the runaway vehicle, while , the driver, who remained at the wheel until the lorry went over the bank, miraculously escaped with a broken leg, injuries to the back, and shock. They were the only occupants of the vehicle.

The man killed was Frederick Astridge, who was married, with two children, residing at 6, Taupo Quay, Wanganui. The injured man is George Gay, single, of Koputaroa, Levin. The lorry, which belongs to the Hawera Transport Coy., of which Astridge was the manager in Wanganui, was proceeding from'Wellington with a load of approximately four. tons. About a mile from the summit, the driver found that he had lost control, and that both of the brakes would not check the speed. His companion decided to make a jump for safety, but the driver remained at the wheel until he was thrown out after the lorry had somersaulted three times, and been smashed into pieces, which were scattered down the hillside. The chassis rested against a’ telegraph pole, the body going further down, and the oil drums went to the foot of the hill.

The injured man was taken to the hospital, and was subsequently placed aboard an express train and taken to Palmerston North Hospital. He thinks that something broke in the gear box. as he was coming down in low gear.

MAORI GIRL FATALLY BURNT.

WHANGAREI, November. 24.

A tragedy occurred in the county district beyond Maromaku on Saturday night, when a thirteen-year-old Maori girl named Tipene, was burned to death. Her parents went out visiting, leaving the girl and her four younger brothers in the house. Late at night the house was found to be on fire. The boys escaped, but the girl was trapped. Her charred remains were found among the debris of the building, which had only recently been constructed.

MOTORIST KILLED.

EKETAHUNA, November $4

A fatal accident occurred on the Haunui road yesterday. A-car containing five persons, went over a bank, owing to the road giving way. Halsey Roy Geange (14), the son of W. G. Geange, Haunui, was pinned underneath and killed instantaneously. Naismith sustained a broken arm.

. CYCLE AND LORRY COLLIDE.

HAWERA, November 22.

Resiiltant on a collision between a motor cycle he was riding, with a motor lorry at a cross road on the outskirts of the town this afternoon, George Richards, hairdresser, of Hawera, was taken to the hospital with a fracture of the left leg.

WIDOW’S FATAL BURNS.

AUCKLAND, November 23.

Fatal burns were received by Mrs Eleanor Atkinson, aged 65 years, a widow, when she was lighting a fire under a copper at her home at Epsom on Saturday. Her clothes caught fire. She was extensively burnt, dying from her injuries at the Auckland Hospital early this morning.

SPEEDWAY MISHAPS.

CHRISTCHURCH RIDER KILLED.

CHRISTCHURCH, November 23.

At the first dirt-track races of the season held on Saturday evening, a young rider, George Chambers, suffered severe injuries from a fall when tho race was in progress. He was rushed to the hospital unconscious, and his condition was reported ex tremely critical. - Turning the bend into the back straight, 'Chambers rode high up on the track towards the wooden safety fence. Even the onlookers are unable to describe clearly what happened. It seemed as if Chambers rode over a rut in the track, then bumped in the saddle and fell forward inert on the petrol tank with his head over the handle-bars. In this position the machine and the rider struck the safety fence a, glancing blow, the machine continuing along the fence for seventy yards before it turned over, throwing Chambers on the track. His inert body slid for a distance of ten yards on tho loose cinder surface. The large crowd present were shocked into silence as the officials rushed to his assistance. Chambers is 21 years old. He lives at Gebbie’s Valley. He is a second division rider, but he has won several races.

CHRISTCHURCH, November 24.

George M. Chambers died at th* hospital last evening. WELLINGTON MAN HURT. •» WELLINGTON, November 23. A. ;W. Hunger, a dirt track rider, crashed while riding in the second *;emi-final of the Mirama Handicap at Kilbirnie Stadium on Saturday night. He suffered facial cuts and concussion. Hunger, who was unconscious for some time, was attended by a doctor and a Ereo Ambulance, and was later taken by private car to his home.