KILLED IN COLLISION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20969, 4 September 1931, Page 12

KILLED IN COLLISION.

MOTOR-CYCLIST'S DEATH, i FATHER CLAIMS DAMAGES. ; DENIAL OF NEGLIGENCE. ] [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] HAMILTON. Thursday. A fatal motor collision which occurred in Ward Street, Hamilton, on tho evening of February 26 last, when a. young man, George William Deacon, was killed, formed the subject of an action brought before Mr. Justice Smith and a jury in the Hamilton Supreme Court to-day. Tho plaintiff in the action was Frederick Georgo Deacon, father of the deceased, and he claimed £ISOO damages from the Hamilton Borough Council, owner of the motor-lorry which collided with his son's motor-cycle. Mr. MacDiarmid appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. J. F. Strang represented the defendant council. The plaintiff alleged that the driver of the lorry, William Henry Haines, an employee of the defendant council, failed to keep a proper look-out, that he gave insufficient or no warning of his intention to cross the road, and that he failed to take a right-angled turn to tho right. The defendant council denied these allegations, and further contended that there was contributory negligence on the part of Deacon. Plaintiff in Witness Box. Plaintiff said he had been unable to work for three years. Tho deceased had practically kept tho house going and witness and his wife were dependent upon him. His wife had collected an insurance policy for £2OO left by deceased. Deceased earned £4 19s a week as a stonemason. A shop assistant, Henry Leslie Emerson, said he rode behind Deacon on a motor-cycle on the evening in question. They were travelling at 20 miles an hour, on the correct side of the road. Witness was rendered unconscious by the collision. Benjamin Howard Smallmaio said he saw the motor-cycle pass along Ward Street on its correct side of the road at a safe speed. Lionel Thomas Turner estimated the speed of the motor-cycle at from 18 to 20 miles an hour. The lorry was on its correct side. Evidence that the lorry approached at a fast speed was given by Miss Gwendoline Mary Simcock. Mrs. Evelyn Smith said she considered the cyclists were travelling slowly before the collision. Tho lorry was travelling slightly on the wrong side of the road. Case for the Defence. For the defence, Mr. Strang submitted that there was no evidence to show any negligence on the part of the driver of the motor-lorry, except that he cut the corner. Although this was a breach of the regulations, it was not shown from the evidence that it contributed to the accident.

Constable H. A. Hay said when he arrived at the scene of the accident Deacon was lying on one side of the road and Emerson on the other, while the machine was some distance further on. Witness found marks on the left-hand side of the rear of the lorry. Grace Rebecca Jane Atkinson, school teacher, said it was not properly'dark at the time the collision occurred. She did not consider the lorry was travelling fast. Alfred HaVris Russell said shortly before the accident he was in his car in Ward Street when a motor-cycle flew past and the next thing he heard was the crash. He could not estimate the Bpeed of the cycle. An estimate of the speed of the motorcycle was given by John Edward Fleming, labourer, who said it passed him in Ward Street at about 45 miles an hour. It was only a fraction of a second later that the crash occurred. The case was adjourned until to-morrow.