MAN AND GIRL KILLED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20721, 14 November 1930, Page 12

MAN AND GIRL KILLED.

MOTOR-CYCLING FATALITY. TRAVEL AT EXCESSIVE SPEED. " YOUNG LIVES THROWN AWAY." "Two young lives have been thrown away through excessive speed and carelessness on tho road," said Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., coroner, in returning a verdict of accidental death at tho adjourned inquest yesterday afternoon concerning tho deaths of William Antony Wvvill Thompson, aged 20, of 46, Green Lane, and Florence Henrietta McDonnell, aged 16, of 116, Shackleton Iload, Mount Eden. Tho fatality was duo to a collision on New North Road, Mount Albert, on October 29, between a motor-cycle, ridden by the deceased Thompson, and a stationary motor-van. Miss McDonnell was a pillion passenger on tho cycle. Dr. G. D. Lindsay said that when he arrived at tho scene of tho accident he found Thompson lying on the concrete roadway entangled in a motor-cycle, which was completely wrecked. Life was extinct, death being due to a fracture of tho skull and laceration of the brain. Dr. C. J. C. Britton said he examined Miss McDonnell on her admission to the Auckland Hospital. Sho was deeply unconscious and gradually sank and died, tho cause of death being head injuries and shock. John Cameron White said that just before tho accident ho saw the motof-cycle approaching from tho direction of Avondale. It was on the concrete on its correct side of the road. Witness could hear tho engine roaring and noticed the cycle was travelling at a very high speed. It swerved toward the kerb when it was close to a stationary van. Witness heard a crash and when he arrived on tho scene Thompson was dead and the girl was lying behind tho cycle, with her head against tho kerb. Just at the moment of impact witness saw broken timber shoot through the front of the van, breaking the glass windscreen. Tho impact caused tho van to shoot forward and mount tho footpath, although tho hand brake was hard on. In witness' opinion the cycle was travelling too fast to negotiate a dangerous bend on the road. He did not hear a tyre burst prior to the collision. According to Archibald Alfred Lemari tho motor-cycle appeared in a flash: The speed of tho machine was terrific and witness* view of tho cyclo from where ho first saw it until tho impact took placo was only about a second. The . van was carried about 90ft. and had mounted the kerb. The coroner returned a verdict in accordance with tho medical evidence.