LANDSLIDE AT NAPIER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 141, 14 May 1930, Page 7

LANDSLIDE AT NAPIER.

MAN AND GIRL KILLED. INSTANTANEOUS DEATH. Per Press Association. NAPIER, May 13. The collapse of a section of the Bluff Hill cliff face at a spot about fifty yards beyond a bend in the vicinity of the Breakwater was responsible for the death of two young people shortly after eight o’clock this evening. They were the occupants of a fvveseater sedan motor-car, which was travelling slowly along Breakwater Road in the direction of the port. Suddenly the car was overwhelmed by a fall of rock and crushed, the two unfortunate victims meeting their deaths almost instantaneously. Their names are: — CLARE KAUTER, aged 18, a daughter of Mr S. Kauter, of Napier, and formerly an hotel licensee. DOUGLAS W. BARR, aged about 24 or 25, residing in Nelson Orescent, Napier, a son of Mr and Mrs John Barr, 613 Whitehead Road, Hastings. At five minutes past eight o’clock Miss Kauter left the Girls' Friendly Society Lodge, she was residing, and joined Barr, and in the mouir-car they proceeded in the direction of riio Breakwater, travelling at the slow speed of about 15 miles an hour. Two men who had goue to the Breakwater for the purpose of crayfishing, and the Harbour Board’s watchman, were at the moment talking and looking in the direction of the cliff face. Suddenly their attention was claimed by a crash, and with a terrific roar llie cliff face fell, overwhelming the car that had just taken tho bend. The seriousness of what had happened was immediately realised. A watchman rushed to the telephone and advised the police, a doctor and the ambulance, while the other two men, one an employee of tho Harbour Board and the other a ' waterside worker, rushed to tho scene of the accident.

CAR COMPLETELY WRECKED. Little could be seen of the car when they reached it. Its body had been completely wrecked, and the front portion torn off the chassis. Quickly they extricated Mr Barr from the car, but apparently he was dead. To extricate Miss Kauter, however, was a much more difficult problem, as tlie liad apparently caught the full force of the fall. She was almost completely covered, only her white fur and a portion of her head being clear. Members of tho police force had by now reached the scene, and they immediately set to work to get Miss Kauter clear. With no implements available, it was difficult work and dangerous, too, as smaller sections of the cliff face were still coming down. With equal promptitude Dr. Fitzgerald and (die ambulance arrived. Mr Barr was certified to as being dead, but Miss Kauter was still showing slight signs of life. However, before she could be moved into the ambulance she passed away. Apparently,* Mr Barr was struck on the head by one large stone, which fractured his skull. Miss Kauter was badly crushed, almost every bone in her body being broken. That particular section of the face of the cliff is one that has for many months raised doubts as to its security. A crack along its face made its appearance some time ago, but it stood the test of all kinds of weather, and few would have expected it to give way after such a long dry spell as has been experienced. The section was really a peak running quite 100 feet up the cliff, and when it fell fully 200 to 300 tons of material must have been shifted. So sudden did it come down that the unfortunate victims never had time to realise what had happened. Nearer tho cliff the earth stood several feet high, b.ut contained massive boulders that were thrown right across the roadway and footpath, completely blocking tho tlioruglifare. Steps were' early taken to warn traffic that the roadway was blocked, but despite the danger that existed from further falls of the cliff face, the scene of the accident was visited by hundreds of people, who certainly rail a great risk. The work of clearing a passngc-wny was immediately commenced, but in the darkness and in such uncertainty they wero not called upon to do more last night than make a passage-way on the footpath for pedestrians.