CAPSIZE OF CAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22518, 8 September 1936, Page 12

CAPSIZE OF CAR

TWO MEN KILLED

CAUSE ACCIDENTAL VERDICT AT INQUEST [BY TEL KG HATH —OWN CORBKSPONDENT] IIUNTLY, Monday The adjourned inquest was held today at Huntly, before Mr, l'\ Harris, coroner, concerning the deaths of two married men, Mr. George Charles Blank, road contractor, aged 49, oi ' Papakura, and Mr. Edgar Neville Tregonning Moxsom, aged 32, labourer, ot Auckland, who were killed at Ohinowai on July 18, when the car in which they were passengers capsized. Mr. W. J. King watched the proceedings on behalf of the driver of the car, Robert Keith Bremner. John Thomas Beck, a farmer, residing at Ohinewai, said that on the night of July 18 he visited the scene of th'J accident. Next morning, during a search outside the gate of his house and near the edge of the bitumen, he picked up a piece of the inner tube of a motor tyre. The place where this was found showed marks, apparently caused by a ear leaving the bitumen. The Driver's Evidence I)r. A. B. Jameson stated that he examined the bodies of both deceased on the scene of the accident at 11.15 p.m. He considered that death was due in both cases to a fracture of vertihrae in the neck. It had probably been instantaneous. Robert Keith Bremner, a lorry driver employed by Goosman and Company, Limited, Morrinsville, and residing at Te Kawa, said that at 5 p.m. on July 18 he left To Kawa in a three-sea ter roadster with two passengers, the deceased Moxsom and another man named Hugh Prince. Reaching Te Awamutu at 6 p.m., he picked up the deceased Blank and left about 20 minutes later. "There were four of vis in the front seat of the car," the witness continued. "I was driving. George Blank was next to me, and on the other side of him was Moxsom. Prince was sitting on Moxsoin's knee. From Te Awamutu 1 drove to Hamilton and called at. the house of my cousins, arriving there at 8 p.m. and remaining until 8.45. We went on toward Auckland, occupying tho same positions as before."

Front Tyre Bursts Visibility was bad at times, due to heavy rain, the witness continued. His average speed did not exceed 35 miles an hour. Just as he was approaching the bend near the sceuc of the accident and had slowed down to about 25 miles an hour, the left-hand front tyre burst. The car swerved toward the left side of the road. He remembered trying to bring it back, but after that he recalled nothing until he found himself pinned underneath. He heard cars passing and tried unsuccessfully to reach the horn in order to attract attention. Help came eventually and he was taken to the Waikato Hospital. The witness said he had held a driver's licence for nine years. He had owned the car for three months and had had no trouble with it. The three passengers were not giving any trouble at the time of the accident. He had had two glasses of medium beer at Kihikihi about 5 p.m., but no other liquor that day. After evidence had been given by Hugh Prince, widower, of Te Kawn. the remaining passenger, and by Constable D. Craigie, the coroner stated that in his opinion the actual cause of the accident had been the bursting of the tyre. Bremner, in endeavouring to pull the car back to the road, had got into difficulties. He added that the bend was most deceptive. A verdict of accidental death was returned.