ACCIDENTS AND TRAGEDIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 May 1937, Page 9

ACCIDENTS AND TRAGEDIES

CONSTABLE DROWNED DUCK-BOAT CAPSIZED [PER press association.] " AUCKLAND, April 30. \ police constable stationed at Port Chalmers, who was spending his leave at Mercer, was drowned when a boat in which he and a companion were o-oing to a duck-shooting stand on the Whangamarino Stream, capsized this -afternoon. The victim was Gordon George Medhurst, aged 29, whose wife is spending her holiday at Ohakune. In company with Alfred Parrish, of Ncrtlicote, Medhurst set off' in a small duck boat from Mercer, with the intention of visiting a shooting location which was situated on the stream about three miles from its mouth. However, before the stand was reached, the boat overturned, its occupants being flung into the water. Parrish struck out for the bank, which he reached, after tin arduous swim, in an exhausted condition, but Medhurst almost immediately disappeared. When equipment was obtained from Pukekohe to-night, dragging was commenced by the police, and Medhurst’s body was recovered near the scene of the capsize at 9 o’clock. Medhurst; who was the youngest son of Mr and Mrs T. Medhurst, of Bombay, was born in Cambridge, and joined "the Police Force seven years ago. He was spending a holiday with his brother. Mr S. Medhurst, of Mercer.

HOKITIKA INQUEST. HOKITIKA, April 30. The inquest concluded to-day, when the Coroner returned a verdict that Albert Ephriam Simms died at the Westland Hospital on April 10, from a fractured skull and lacerated brain, the result of being struck by a motor-car, driven by Alfred James Andrews, on the previous evening in Fitzherbert Street, under circumstances that call for further investigation. The Coroner also stated the opinion that the speed at which the striking car was travelling, was excessive, when the visibility conditions on the night in question were taken into consideration. ELDERLY MAN KILLED. WELLINGTON, April 0. / While walking along the road at Maoribank, Hutt Valley, tonight, James Henry Colenso was knocked down and killed by a motor car travelling in the same direction. Colenso was a middle-aged man from Alfredton, Eketahuna. The driver of the car was Horace Noel/Mason, of Lyall Bay, Wellington.

CAR .OVERTURNED. TE AROHA, April 30. Last evening on the Eastport road, eight miles from Te Aroha, a car driven by J. Mulcahy, of Hamilton, an inspector for the Public Works Department, overturned, the driver sustaining a broken collarbone. Two passengers, named Smith and Huthnance, were hurt,, the former suffering minor injuries and Huthnance suffering concussion. Mulcahy was taken to the Waikato Hospital and Huthnance to the Thames Hospital. WOMAN’S BROKEN ANKLE. WELLINGTON, April 30. A visitor to Wellington, Mrs J. E. J. Bannister, of Wanganui, was taken to hospital' late this afternoon with a broken ankle received while she was walking on Thursday in the native bush at York Bay, Eastbourne. She was found after a search which began on Thursday night, and continued with increased thoroughness to-day, when serious anxiety began to be felt for her safety. Mrs Bannister, who was staying with relatives at York Bay, was walking alone, and it is presumed that she slipped from the track. She fell near the bank of a stream, breaking an ankle. She remained where she had fallen for the rest of the day, and throughout Thursday night. To-day Mr E. J. Righton, who had joined in the search, was in the bush on his property when Mrs Bannister replied to his call. Assistance was summoned, and a stretcher party brought Mrs Bannister out of the bush to an ambulance which took her to hospital. Her condition is satisfactory.

SUICIDE IN SEA. NAPIER, May 1. The body of Miss Dora Beatrice Yule, 33, of Palmerston North, was found in the sea this morning. The circumstances point to suicide. She had been suffering from ill-health. Letters were left for her family.