WEEK END ACCIDENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 December 1934, Page 5

WEEK END ACCIDENTS

OTIRA GORGE CAR TRAGEDY CH.CH. MAN KILLED Th© Manager of the National Insurance Company, Christchurch, Dudley H. G. Buddle, aged about 45 years, married, of Puriri Street, Riccarton, met his death on the Otira. Gorge, on Friday evening, through his car going over a bank, Land falling some 200 feet into a gully. The deceased was last seen alive about, 5.30 p.m. on Friday, by Mr James Peddie, storekeeper, of Otira, when leaving Otira for Christchurch, and the tragedy was discovered about 1.30 p.m. yesterday. The car was extensively damaged, and an examination failed to reveal any major defect that might have caused the vehicle to go over the bank. The scene of the fatality was •at what is known as Candy’s Bend, where there is a steep grade,, and it is believed that the deceased missed his gears in changing for the grade, or that the engine stalled, the car running back over the bank before he could apply the brakes properly. The deceased, on a business visit to the Coast, left Greymouth on Friday morning, for Hokitika, and then proceeded to Otira, on his way to Christchurch, intending to put his car on the train. As there was no suitable train, he decided to drive over the Gorge road, which was in good order, and he advised his wife by telegram of his intention. His failure to arrive in Christchurch on Saturday, aroused fears, and his wife informed the police. A search was commenced on Saturday, but it was not until 1.30 p.m. yesterday, that the tragedy was discovered by Messrs K. B. Bain and N. D. Bowman, fire insurance adjusters, on their way to the West Coast from Christchurch. The body was located about two hours later, by Mr Robert Hampson, of Otira, some distance away from the car, in thick scrub. Examination revealed a broken neck,, and death had apparently been instantaneous. t An inquest was opened at Otira this afternoon.

LAKE BRUNNER FATALITY. CHOKED BY FALSE TEETH. Death in unusual circumstances came to John (Jock) Arthur Kelleher, of Te Kinga, yesterday afternoon. He was swimming in Lake Brunner, when his top set of artificial teeth became dislodged in his throat, choking him He was examined over an hour Sr the tragedy by Dr. A. W. Wilkinson, who certified that death was due to choking, and not to drowning. Deceased, who was a native ot Southland, aged 33 years, went for a stroll along the lakeside vfith his wife, and a lad named Noel Dowell. He decided to have a swim at a point where a stream enters the Lake, but had not been in the water long when his wife saw he was in difficulties. She is not a swimmer, and soon found her husband was beyond her reach. As he sinking, deceased was seen to he trying to remove his top plate. The body was recovered about half-an-hour after the accident by Mr Tom Hibbs, one of a number of cricketers, who were playing at Te Kinga, and who hastened to the scene. Dr. Wilkinson, who was visiting Moana with a team of tennis players, was summoned, and pronounced me extinct. ~ Deceased, whose parents reside. m Southland, is survived by his wife, two sisters, and three brothers, Dan (Camerons), Denis (Te Kinga), and another. The funeral will take place at Christchurch to-morrow. An inquest was opened at Te Kinga, to-day.

FATAL COLLISION. GISBORNE, December 2. The death occurred at Cook Hospital of James W. Pearce, who was admitted on Wednesday, suffering from injuries as the result of a car in which he was a passenger, colliding with a pole. LORRY AND BUS COLLIDE. INVERCARGILL, December 2. A bad smash occurred on Friday evening on the Pukemaori-Orawai road when a bus and lorry collided at a. turning. Both vehicles were extensively damaged, and a passenger, Peter Sim, aged 16, sustained a broken thigh. FOUND DYING. AUCKLAND, December 2, Found in a dying condition in a public convenience in Durham Street on Saturday afternoon, a middle-aged man, who has not been identified, was removed to the Auckland Hospital. His death occurred a few minutes after admission. Deceased was aged about fifty. GIRL’S DEATH. WHANGAREI, December 1. * Gweneth Pearl Dahl, aged sixteen vears, died in hospital last night as a result of injuries received when a car in which she was a passenger was struck by a train at a. level crossing near Ilikurangi on Thursday. Ihe other person injured, Phyllis Perkins, is making satisfactory progress. FATAL WOUNDS. HAMILTON, December 1. Frederick Edwards, a young married man with three children, who was found huddled in a car covered in blood, with a gun alongside him at Matamata. on Monday, died in the Waikato hospital to-day.

boy drowned WAFMATE, December 3. A verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest, to-day, into the drowning of a twelve-year-old boy, Henry Myles Woods, son of Alfred J. Woods, of Willowbridge. Evidence was eiven that the boy was a poor swimmer, and got out of depth in the Waihao river. The Coroner commended those who assisted, in connection with the tragedy, especially John J. Wellwood. CHILD FATALLY SCALDED HAMILTON, December 3. As the result of falling into a bucket of boiling water and caustic soda, prepared for flushing a separator plant, at her parents’ home, at Waharoa, a child of three years, Clarice Nellie Ardern, died in the Waikato Hospital, yesterday. She was severely burned about the body.