LEG BROKEN IN THE BUSH

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 4 May 1934, Page 7

LEG BROKEN IN THE BUSH

YOUNG MAORI’S ORDEAL. HORSEBACK AND LAUNCH JOURNEY. AUCKLAND, May 3. A gruelling ride on horse-back with a broken leg, followed by a rough allnight journey by launch from Great Barrier Island to Auckland, was the lot of William Grant, aged 21, a Maori resident of Great Barrier Island, who was admitted to Auckland hospital this morning as the result of an accident when hauling firewood in the bush. With a companion Grant was working in the bush near Motairehe, on Great Barrier Island, on Wednesday afternoon. A horse-drawn sledge had been loaded with wood and was being driven down a slope bv Grant, who was sitting on top of the load. The wood commenced to roll over in front of the sledge, carrying Grant with it. He was. pinned under the sledge and received a compound fracture of his left leg. “My friend got a hand-spike and set me free,” lie said when describing the accident. “I managed to crawl on to the horse, which my friend led to our camp, about 300 or 400 yards away. Then I lay down in camp while one of the men went away to get a launch.” The injured man was carried on an improvised stretcher to the beach of Mimnru Bay, about 500 yards from the camp, where he was conveyed to t'he launch.” The injured man was carried on an improvised stretcher to the beach o* - Mimaru Bay, about 500 yards from the camp, where ho was conveyed to the launch. The accident occurred at about 4.30 in the afternoon, and five hours elapsed before the launch journey ’'’as coin nienced. Auckland was reached at 6.30 a.m Although suffering great pain, -Grant remained conscious throughout the ordeal of the journey.