DEATH OF INSPECTOR.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2765, 21 August 1931, Page 5

DEATH OF INSPECTOR.

INQUEST CONCLUDED. VERDICT: “ACCIDENTAL DEATH” At the conclusion of the inquest into the death of Walter Douglas John Johnson, traffic inspector to the Hauraki Plains County, who died injuries received on ’(the night of August Ist, a verdict of “accidental death” was returned, deceased meeting his death through injuries received in a collision with a cow on the Orchard East . Road during the night of August Ist. The inquest, had been adjourned after a preliminary inquiry, was held in the Magistrate’s ' Room, Thames Court, on Wednesday morning, before the Coroner, Mr W. Bongard, Mi- E. L. Walton appearing on behalf of the Hauraki Plains County Council ■ . The first evidence was that of a bus driver, \Graham Langley Connell, a resident of Waitakaruru, who slated that he left a dance in Nefherton at about, midnight on the evening in question. He.was proceeding towards Ngatea and was approaching the bridge at about 12.30 a.m. when he noticed an object lying on the road. He puljed up and found it was a motor cycle lying on its side almost in the middle of the road. There was a man astride the cycle,'lying with b s head in a pool of blood, which had begun to thicken. About eighteen feet away from the cycle and rider lay. a dead cow, and between the two a cow cover was lying on the road. ■ Connell stated that he recognised the man as the County Inspector, Mr Johnson. He immediately put him into the bus and conveyed him to Dr. Miller at Turua, and front there, on the doctor’s advice, to' the Themes Hospital. Visibility was good at the time witness picked deceased up, but there had been squalls earlier in the evening and the roads were very wet. Witness had not found the roads difficult for driving a heavy vehicle, but he had not had any experience with motor cycles. When deceased was picked up from the road his' cap and goggles were lying alongside him. Answering Mr Walton; witness said that he believed that Johnson’s work took him to most of the dances • on the Plains, it being his job to generally enforce the parking and traffic regulations. 'The .nex twitness, Dr. C. D. Wilkins, house surgeon at the Thames Hospital, stated that he was on duty when deceased was brought in at about 1.30' a.m. on August 2nd. On examination it was . found that deceased was suffering from lacerated wounds of the right ear ; and' right knee, was bleeding from the' left ear, and had minor abrasions, besides being in an unconscous state and suffering from shock. Despite treatment for shock, lie did not recover consciousness, and witness was of the opinion that the skull was fractured and the brain lacerated. Deceased became jworse, with the resuljt that death occurred at 11.30 p.m. on August 3rd. The head and brain- injuries were the cause of death, which could have been sustained in a motor cycle collision. Mrs Mary Lawrence, of Ngat°a, the next wtness, stated that she took over a farm, the property of the Hauraki Plains Meat Company, on the afternoon of August Ist. Wires were down on the front fence and a number of posts were broken.

The Coroner said that he Was concerned only with the cause of death and doubted if it was necessary for Mrs Lawrence to give that evidence. Sergeant Macnamara said that there might be more connected with the matter and such evidence was most useful. Witness said she noticed particularly that the fence along Orchard East Road was in a bad state of repair, It would have been quite possible, in her opinion, for cattle to get through the fence to the road. She added'that her cows had been put in the paddock on the afternoon of August Ist, and had remained there for th’d night. She had instructed her son to replace three temporary wires across the gateway leading on to the bridge which crossed the drain to Orchard East Road. , The following morning her son told her that there was a dead cow lying on the side of the road. She found the animal which was lying on the north side of the road, about a chain from the bridge leading to her property. A cover, which was on the cow the previous night, was missing. There were injuries to the cow’s back. Mrs Lawirence’s son Clyde thjen gave evidence of going on to a farm at Ngatea on the date of August Ist. The fences, especially that facing Orchard East Road, were not in a good state of repair, and in the one particular fence the wires were slack and two Of them broken. He did not repair - the fence, but instead put up

three wires at the bridge. .When going for the cows next morning witness said he noticed one lying on the road side, and went to make an examination. The animal had apparently been struck. sinCe there were injuries on either side of the back bone. The cover was missing and there was a groove in the bitumen surface of the road, about 22 feet from the cow, on the eastern side. When examined it was found that internally the cow was literally smashed to pieces. Her neck was not broken, and there was no wound upon the shoulder. An examination had been made, stated Constable White in evidence, on the morning of August 2nd. The cow was lying on the soft portion of the road, just off the bitumen, with its head towards the east. She was about 30 yards from the gate into Lawrence’s property and 25 feet east of the cow, on the bitumen, was a pool of blood. At the same spot there was oil and broken glass. An examination of 'the cycle at Ngatea showed it to be seriously damaged in front. The brake rod was snapped and the speedometer broken There were cuts in the shoul-' der of the cow and the back appeared as if it’ had been dragged along the road; but’ there was no evidence to show that the animal had beqn so dragged. I ' The fence was in a bad state of repair and was down in a number of places. . ' Answering Mr Walton, he stated that it was quite evident that deceased had applied his brake before he struck the cow, ,since the back; wheel brake was locked and the connecting rod

Constable C. H. Clifford, of Kerepeehi, stated that he had examined the cycle in a garage and had found light coloured hair on various, parts of the machine-flax fibre, probably, from a ,cow cover, .was found on the front mudguard and number plate. The Coroner, bn the conclusion of evidence, then passed his verdict.