EX-WEST COASTER

Grey River Argus, 27 November 1931, Page 6

EX-WEST COASTER

FATAL ACCIDENT IN SIAM. Details of the accident which resulted in the death, on October Bth, at Penang, Siam, of Mr James Allan, a brother of Mrs G. Herring, Murray Street, appeared in a Penang newspaper. Mr Allan (who was at one time engaged in contracting work in the Barrytown district, and was a native of the Buller) went out on Sunday, October 4th, to inspect the headline of a dredge which had snagged. While he was doing this the line suddenly straightened out, and catching him above the ankle, pinned him to the ground. This resulted in the ankle

bone being torn out of the socket, while the fibulae at the back of the leg were fractured. Owing to there being no means of conveyance that night, Mr Allan was forced to remain at Na Pradu all night a n d he did not arrive at the General Hospital Penang until 7 p.m. on Monday, 26 hours after the accident. Everything possible was done for him but gangrene had set in, and on Tuesday morning, in the hope of saving his life, his leg was amputated above the knee. However, Mr Allan passed away on Thursday, October Bth. The late Air Allan, who, during the war went to the Western Front with the New Zealand Auxiliary Force and was badly wounded twice, had served with Pattani Tin since his arrival in Siam from Westport, New Zealand, six years ago. The late Mr Allan, who leaves a widowed mother

and several brothers and sisters in New Zealand, and a brother, Mr E. E. Allan, who worked with him on. the mine in Siam, was very well known in Siamese mining circles and his death will be widely mourned. The funeral was very largely attended and the wreaths included those from his mother, brother Ernie, and sisters and brothers in New Zealand.