MOTOR AND BIG COLLIDE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 24 July 1923, Page 7

MOTOR AND BIG COLLIDE.

ACCIDENT NEAR NEW PLY-

MOUTH

1 Cuts from broken } lass.- some hard knocks and severe shakings were the ] extent of tlit, injuries suiieied by tiie ' occupants of a ..iOt- r-c-.ir ai;d gig vi.k-h. collided in Smart Ltiad about J: c flock on Saturday evening (.revolts ;ne Herald). Judging iy lU3 extent ol' the damage to tne uir ;.ud ot the accident, it was exees-.'iuuily ioitunate that there were not more fcerious consequences. Mr EveiaJd Gilmuur, who had been reh±ree.±ig in a football match at V> uitara, was returning m Ins car witu j-iessr.s il. Hughes, 11.I 1. Atkinson, lUr \\ . Valeiitine. J. fecrimgeour, anil v. Stefi'ansou. When opposite Messrs iN-ewton King's, saleyarcis a- gig without ii^lrt-a. it is alleged, sadaeaiy ap-jjedrt-a out vi the darkness. The hor.'.-e was guiJupivig, and though the.car was only travelling slowly th&ve was no ; tune to swerve. The animal came right ! on, never stopping until it was on top j of the bonnet.

llie windscreen was shattered into a thousand pieces and the shafts of the gig went through the top 01 the hood, n<u-,ro',vly missing Messrs Gilmour and Hughes, who were 111 the . front seat. The former had his left hand badly on by falling guiss, however, and there welo rniriot injuries to his right hand. Air Hughes had a miraculous escape, his only evidences of the mishap being t\vo small scratches about the face. Messrs Bcrimgeour and Atkinson were unscathed, but Mr Valentine was badly I cut on the forehead, and Mr Steffansuii received cuts on his lips and hands. 1 The driver of the gig was Mr jj\ Keenan, of Smart Iload, with him being his wife and two children, one about two years old and the other a boy aged about ten. Such was the force of the impact that they were all tin-own 01^ to the road, the- upper part of the vehicle being sina-shec1/ The children escaped with a severe shaking, but Mrs. Keenan was rendered teniDOj.--anly unconscious by her head striken<>• the road, and Mr Keenan had his front teeth knocked out and the roof of h:.s mouth cut. Dr. Wade was on the. scene within a quarter of an hour of th«e accident, and attended to the injuries. Mx K. Kirk drove up later and took the Keenans to their home. ' ''The horse simply jumped on to the bonnet, breaking its harness,-and'then jumped clear again," said Mr Gilmour to a Herald reporter. He added that his car was travelling very slowly and was on its ,ri-ght side. The car itself presented a most dilapidated appearance when viewed by the re-porter in a local garage. The left front mudguard was very badly bent and knocked about, hoof marks being visible. The radiator was twisted backwards and the bonnet splayed out and pushed ur> towards the driver's seat. Nothing was left of the windscreen arid the steering wheel had been snapped off th& metal fixtures. The hood was torn where the shafts had gone through it.