ACCIDENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3247, 3 July 1872, Page 3

ACCIDENTS.

A iJKH! wnnad Abraham Hare had his toes froHHiith.fi on tlie 19th June. He walked on that day from Waipori township to Manning's reef, in the Waipori -district, in charge of a tenm. There was, ho suys, iv.-n feet of snuw. on the ground. He aid not fu<A that anything wan wrong with bin toes until :tftor he had gone to bed thftt nhjht. He is now in the Dunedin Hospital, v/it]j six of them injured by frontbite. A man named Daniel Ai-kenst-all was killed at .Switzers about the beginning of Juiui. TIo was at work in a deep-sinking claim bsilon'^ing to Mr Horace Bastings jmd Mr .H. f.'iiruson, when t}ic drive fell in, and Homo tons of earth and stone fell, upon him. The ground was bad to work, and "rolt'-!!/' Mid in tho endeavour to ■get the body out several more tons of earth fell iii/f.o that the men were obliged to do.'ii&t.

Mr iJavid Craig, a pub-contractor on the CluUiu Hoetif.'ii of t!ie Clutha railway, met with a iwrhmn accident lately near Baldnihn. Ho k-ffc that township at about nix o'clock in the evening, with a <lray lrnleti with horKe feed and timber for the part of the line on which he was at work. When about two miles from the township, and after he had turned on to a bye-road known n« IV-trie's Spur, the horso made a sudden bolt forward, and as he rushed t'> catch it, tho dray capsized. Mr Craiy liar, no recollection '<f the horse or dray rolling over him, a;; he became unconscious ; but otic or tho other must have done ho, as in: is internally hurt, and fi-oiii the middle downwardH h paralj'KUii. Tlie accident occurred at about half-pant seven in the evening, and he recovered consciousness at, he thinkH, about three next morning. From that time, he "cooeyed " Tor assistance: at intervals, but it was 10 o'clock before he was discovered in hi» wretched plight. A "bitter front during the night added to his misery, and his toes are now frost-bitten. A settler who was going past at ten o'clock in tho morning Haw him, and seeing hia state, at once went to Mr Petrie'rt house. Mr Petrio came with a dray, in which he placed Mr Craig, and took him to hi« house, where two doctors attended to him, Mr and Mrs Petrio kindly attending to his wants in every way. Mr Craig has since been brought down to Diinifdin, and is now in the bos pital. t! Misfortunes never come alone," and it is so in this case. His horse, which he valu*,:d ai MO, was unable to extricate itself from tho dray and harness, and was so ui'ich injured that it died in the course of two or three days.

Tin; snow was the cause of an accident to Cob!) mid Co.'s coach about half-past ?> o'clock on the afternoon of tho 11th June, when tho coach was half-way down the declivity near Haveloek. We quote from tho Tuapeka Times :—" Mr Popo, the driver, considered it imprudent to proceed further, as the frozen snow rendered the footing of tho horses unsafe. He turned the horses back up the hill, and immediately on doing so one of the fore reins broke. Tho team then became unmanageable, and commenced gilloping round in a circle on tho point of the rspur. After they had careered round for a short time, the coach fell into an abandoned paddock and capsized, throwing out the occupants—four ladies and tho driver. One of the ladies—Mrs Uren —was severely shaken and bruised, and it was at first thought that her arm was broken, but this was not the case. The other ladies, beyond the fright, sustained no injury. Mr Pope was thrown a distance of several yards, but he also escaped injury. The coach was left where it was, and a trap procured, in which the passengers and mails were taken into Lawrence. Mr Pope rode in and led the coach horses. Mrs Uren's injuries were attended to by Dr Hal lev."

An accident occurred to the Queenstown coach on the 13th .June. Henry, the proprietor and driver, saya that tho accident was caused by one of the horses shying while passing a small gully in a very narrow part of the road between Clyde and Cromwell, and in which there is a sharp turn. Tho coach, horses, driver, and passenger were precipitated down a steep bank, sibout 100 feet in height, into the Molyneux, which at this point is deep. Tho passenger either got out or was thrown out Avh>n the coach was about half-way down tho bank, aud escaped with s'uno bmis<-:H. The driver, coach, horses, and mail bags wont into the river. The driver succeeded in swimming to the bank. One of the horses that got clear of the coach and harness, was found on the other sido of the river next morning, but the coach and other horses have not since been seen. Five of the mail bags were recovered at the scene of the accident, and one was recovered at the Tcviot, about 45 miles lower down the river. There wero eleven mail bags in tho coach. The accident is one which appears to have been purely ■ accidental.

A tin* occurred in Dunedin on the 12th -June, reuniting in the destruction of three houses. It originated in the house of Mr "William Hay, bookseller, York Place, near its intersection with llattray street. Fanned by tho wind, the fire spread with great rapidity ; in fact, within two or -three minutes nftor it was discovered, the houses, occupied by Mr Corbott on one side, and Mr Burns on the other, were in flames. The neighbours did all they could to stop the progress of the fire by applyin*' buckets of witter to the houses in danger. It took the Brigade some time to -get the apparatus up tho incline of. Ra.ttvay street : and when the hose' was turned on, the pressure of water at that 'height on tho hill was sufficient to send tho water a few feet only. Mr Hay's cottage, and Mr Burna's, blazed fiercely, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the cottage occujned by Mr

Higgins, and owned, we hear, by Mr Henry, were eared- The cottage was not injured by the fire, but the windows were pulled out, and the doors torn off the lunges. !slr Hay estimates his loss as follows;— Value of his house (a seven-roomed one, upon leasehold property), JKJOO ; wearing apparel, £120 ; furniture, £100 j total, £520, He has also lost a gold watch, worth 30 guineas, and some other valuables. He utinmirud tor £200, naiacly, £150 upon tho house, and £,50 upon tlie furniture. The cottage occupied by Mr Burns was also Mr J lay's property, and was insured for £70, being about its value. Mr Burns estimates his loss at about £20. The house occupied by Mr Corbett is the property of Messrs A- and T. Burt, and fc, we hear, injured to an extent suflicient to cover the amount of damage done to if. Moat of the furniture in Mr Corbett'a place was saved. The origin of tho fire is unknown.

A fire was discovered in the glass and china warehouse of Messrs K. Macleod and Co., PrinesH s'.reet, at about twentyfive minutes to four o'clock on the' morning of the 28th Juno, by Constable Fitscpatrick. The fire bell did not ring till twenty minute.'* after ; but when it did, the firemen turned nut with promptitude, and ijoon had streams of water directed against the building. By a quarter-past four, or go, all danger of the fire spreading to the buildings on either Hidti «va.H over. The amount of insurance over the premises and stock was aa follows :—New Zealand Co., on stock, £2000; on building, £500. Northern Co., on building, £500 ; on fatock, £1000. London and Lancashire Co., £2000 on Ktock. Victoria Co., £1000 on stock. The total is thus £0000 on stock, and £!00f)on building. The building is of brick, and the property of Messrs Calvert and Campbell, and the back wall at least, which was much injured, will have to be rebuilt. The books were in a Milner's safe, and were only slightly scorched in the binding. Nothing is known as to the origin of the fire. Mr Macleod and one of the storcrnen locked up the premises at the* usual hour on the previous evening, and noticed nothing unusual. There had been a fire in the fireplace in the afternoon, but by that time it had burnt quite low, only a few embers being left. The only woodwork near the fireplace was that of the desk and staircase. There were half a dozen ewes of kerosene at the back of the shop, and a tin in one of them had been opened in the afternoon before for the purpose of seeing the quality of the oil. Strange to Bay, while the wood of the cases in which the kerosene tins were enclosed was burnt, and some of the soldering of the taps was melted off, the contents of the tins, even to those of the tin that had been opened, did not ignite, although they actually boiled. Tlse oil was Devoe's. The goods in the wholesale shed in the yard behind were uninjured. On the Ist July an enquiry into the origin of the fire was held by the Coroner, Dr Ilocken, and a jury. The verdict returned by the latter was to the effect that there was no evidence to hliow how the fire originated.