RECENT FATALITIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17041, 24 December 1918, Page 8

RECENT FATALITIES.

DEATH OF MR. HUTCHISON.

ACCIDENTAL OCCURRENCE. The innuest into the death of Mr. W. E. Hutchison, who died on Friday ;.a the result of injuries received through a motor accident the previous Monday, was concluded yesterday bv Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M. ' I William M. Hutchison, a son of de-' ceased, who was driving the motor-car, deposed that at about 4 p.m. he was proceeding in an easterly direction along Customs Street East. When approaching the intersection of Gore Street, he noticed ft motor-lorry, which lie thought was stationary. Almost immediately afterwards the driver of the latter thrust his right arm out, indicating that he was going to turn to tho right, into Gore Street, behind a tramcar approaching from Parnell Rise. Witness's car was too close to the lorry to pull up, so ho sounded the electric horn as a warning that he intended to pass between the lorrv and the tramcar. He put on speed in order to do this, but as tho ear was only travelling at about 10 to 12 miles an hour, it did not pick up speed quickly enough, with the result that it was struck on the side at the rear by the lorry. Tho impact was scarcely noticeable, but he could not pull the car up before it, had travelled about 100 yds, as the brakes had gone wrong as the result of the collision. He then cPscovered that his father and Mr. Francis H. Leonard, the only other ocennants of the car, had been thrown out. When ho put on speed thero was ample room to pass the lorry, it was possible that the driver of the latter did not hoar the horn. Ho considered that, in the circumstances, in endeavouring to pass the lorry, ho took what was usually the safest course. John H. Hedlund, driver of the motorlorn-, deposed that he did not hear the horn, nor did he see the motor-car until it was about two car lengths away. The driver of the latter slewed Irs ve-h'clo in an endeavour to miss the lorry, but tho motor-car seemed to sl'de hack toward the lorry, with the result that it was struck oy the hub of the front wheel of the lorry. A rise in the street, between tho two sets of tram rails wou'd account for the motor-car skiddiiiL'. Had it not dono so tho collision would not have taken place. The motor-car was raised slightly by the impact, and Mr. Hutchison, who appeared to have risen from h ; s seat, was thrown out on to his head. Mr. Leonard followed about two seconds later. Tho "noise of the tramcar would drown the sound of the horn.

Francis H. Leonard, farmer, of Papatoetoe, gave evidence in many respects similar to that of the two previous witnesses, and added that immediately Before the collision took place Mr. Hutchison's hat blew off, and he rose from his seat in an endeavour to grasp it. Carrick Robertson, surge-on, said the deceased suffered a fracture of the base of the skull. Witness performed an operation to relieve the pressure on the brain three hours after the accident. Death was duo to an adema of the brain, the result of injuries sustained by the accident.

The coroner returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence, and added that the collision was accidental, and that no blame was attachable to the driver of either vehicle.

OLD MAN DIES AFTER ACCIDENT, TRAM MOTORMAX EXONERATED. The adjourned inquest into the death, at the Auckland Hospital on December 17, of Mr. George Cant, aged 88. war, resumed before Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., yesterday morning. Evidence was given that, at 2.25 p.m. on December 11, the deceased, who, was very deaf, walked straight into the front of a tramcar proceeding down ' Bymonds Street. The motorman mounded the gong several times, and also called out to the deceased. Geoffrey J. St. Clair Foster, a doctor attached to the staff of the Auckland Hospital, said the deceased was conscious, but in a dazed condition, when admitted to the honpital. He was Buffering from a laceration and abrasions of the r?&ht side of his face. He had a typical senilo heart, and the cause of death was heart failure, due to old age. The shock of the accident would accelerate death, but in the opinion of the winces any fall would have had the same effect. I A verdict in accordanco with the medical testimony was returned, the coroner adding a rider that no blame was attachable to the driver of the tramcar.