WORKMAN DIES AFTER BEING TRAPPED BY SLIP

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 4

WORKMAN DIES AFTER BEING TRAPPED BY SLIP

When he was trapped under a slip on the Waimata road on Saturday afternoon a Cook County Council employee, received injuries from which he died later. He was

Mr. George Arthur Jackson, aged 49,

married. Waihirere,

The inquest, opened in Gisborne this morning, was adjourned sine die by the coroner, Mr. E. L. Walton, S.M. Senior-Sergeant G. S. Morris represented the police, and Mr. K. A. Woodward appeared for the ' widow of the deceased.

A fellow-employee, William Small, labourer, employed by the Cook County Council, identified the body and said that on Saturday afternoon he was working with the deceased on the Waimata road about two or three miles north of the post office. They were engaged in widening the road below a rocky face about 60ft. high and almost perpendicular in places. Blasting had been carried out during the day. Shortly after 3 p.m. the witness and Jackson were working about 15yds. from where the face had been blasted. They were shifting loose earth and rubble.

The witness heard a noise, looked up and saw some pieces of rubble coming down the steep face just above where they were working. He then realised that a slip was moving and ran to the side of it. The deceased ran at right angles to the witness, across tho road.

Covered By Rubble and Soil

When Small looked round he could not see Jackson, who had been covered by the slip. The witness helped to uncover Jackson, who was covered by rubble and soil, while some big rocks were lying around him. It took about 15 minutes to uncover Jackson, who seemed badly injured and did not speak before he was placed in a car for the journey to Gisborne.

Mr. Jackson was born in Derbyshire, England, and served as a youth in the Lancashire Fusiliers during the First Great War.

He arrived in New Zealand 22 years ago and had been in the Gisborne district for the past 20 years, being employed on the Woodlands estate at Waihirere and for the past 15 months with the Cook County Council. He also served in the Second World War with the forces in New Zealand. Mr. Jackson was married six years ago to Miss Edith May Dixon, Waihirere. A man of quiet disposition and one popular with his many friends, he leaves his wife and one young son. A service was held at 1.30 p.m. today in Cochrane’s chapel prior to the interment at the Taruheru cemetery.