MOTOR SMASH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 75, 24 February 1930, Page 7

MOTOR SMASH.

CAR CRASHES INTO POLE. FOUR PEOPLE SEVERELY INJURED. WELLINGTON, Feb. 24. The noise of the engine of a motorcar travelling at a high speed, the squealing of brakes followed by a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass suddenly disturbed residents in the vicinity of Nai Nai on the Mam Hutt Road at 1.30 a.m. yesterday. Four people who were in the car were injured. Those residents who went out to investigate found that a car driven by Aubrey Leslie Lister, of 7 Mouat Street, Wellington, and carrying as passengers Misses Joyce Knight and M. Tibbs, and Mr William Priestly, all of Wellington, had left the bitumen track and after skidding along for a distance of over 200 feet, had crashed into an ironbark telegraph pole, snapping it in two at the ground level. The car was damaged considerably. Glass was scattered in all directions. All who were in the car suffered severe injuries, which necessitated their removal to the hospital. It is understood that the party were returning from a dance at Upper Hutt, and apparently the car was travelling at a speed that did not allow it to negotiate the bend in the road. • The force of the impact may be judged from the fact that the post was of solid ironbark about nine inches square. The overhead wires held the broken post suspended, otherwise the accident might easily have proved more serious. The occupants of the wrecked car may be considered very fortunate in that the pole they struck was a wooden one, as practically all the poles used in the vicinity are of reinforced concrete. All the occupants of the car sustained head and other injuries, and their condition was still unchanged at the hospital last evening, with the exception of Priestly, who is progressing satisfactorily.