NEWMARKET FATALITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17296, 21 October 1919, Page 8

NEWMARKET FATALITY.

TRAM AND MOTOR COLLIDE.

DEATH OF MR. B. R, BAYLY.

EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST.

The death of Mr. Beresford Richard Bayly, a returned soldier, late of Williamson Street, Epsom, who was killed in a collision between a motor-car and a tramcar at the junction of the Great South Road and Manukau Road, Newmarket, on the afternoon of September 29 last, was the subject of an inquest before the coroner, Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., yesterday. Sergeant J. Rock appeared for the police; Mr. A. Moody for Arnold Lecky, driver of the motorcar; and Mr. P. B. Lusk for the relatives of the deceased. Mr. R. P. Towle watched the interests of the tramway authorities, and of the motorman concerned, R. Dickeon. A boy named Lionel A. S. Walker stated that he saw a city,-bound car smash into the motor-car. Mr. Bayly was thrown out, his head striking the kerbing of the footpath. Witness heard the trami car hell ring, and a moment later the j sound of the motor horn. | Herbert Cecil Why man, who was sitting I beside deceased in the rear seat of the car, said that while travelling slowly, about eighteen yards behind an EpsomI bound tramcar, he saw a cart approaching !on the wrong side of the road. Sudi denly Lecky, the driver of the car, pulled 'to the right. Witness heard a crash and , found himself on the footpath on the right-hand side of the road, near the j hedge. i The Coroner: How far were you be--1 hind the car when Lecky Dulled off?— i About eighteen yards. Before the smash : I noticed a tramcar coming towards Newj market, but I did not see this until Lecky , pulled off. j Witness said he heard Lecky sound the I horn, and the car turned off at about j eight miles an hour. To Mr. Towle witness said the only reason he could suggest for Lecky's 1 swerving to the right was that the road I was blocked at the right side, and he went round to pass the tramcar. Witness i did not notice the oncoming tramcar until j it was practically on top of the motor-car. I Andrew Craig, who was riding in the j front seat of the motor car, said that the ; road, in front of where the turn was I made, was in bad order, while that on the right-hand side was better. Mr. Towle: Will you swear that? —No. Witness said he saw a horse and cart come out of the Great South Road and : approach them on the wrong side of Manu- | kau Road, before the accident happened. | A milk-vendor named Arthur McGarry said that he was driving his "float'' from j Epsom to Newmarket on the -left-hand i side of the road. At Fairfax Road a cityI bound car going 15 to 20 miles an hour ! passed him, and he then saw another car coming fairly slowly from the opposite direction. He did not notice a motor-car travelling behind this tram until it was struck by the city4>ound tramcar. He j saw no cart going toward Newmarket on : the wrong side of the road. The tramcar i was stopped soon after it struck the motor. Mr. Towle : Are you quite sure you were not driving on the wrong side of "the road ?—Yes. Dr. H. L. Gould, house surgeon at the hospital, stated that the deceased when admitted late in the afternoon exhibited no signs of life. He had severe head injuries, and, in the opinion of witness, death was due to a fracture of the skull and laceration of the brain. At tlvs stage the hearing was adjourned until Thursday afternoon.