ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20318, 28 January 1928, Page 10

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

VERDICT OF SUICIDE. . iPer United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, January 27. A verdict of suicide was returned at the inquest on Leslie Garland Pike, married, an insurance agent, who was found yesterday afternoon with his head in an oven and the gas full on in a flat in Symonds street. His widow stated that Pike had been ill for a year, and had left the sanatorium at Rotorua only a week ago. MOTOR LORRY FATALITY. ONE PASSENGER KILLED. OTHERS BADLY INJURED. (Per United Press Association.) ROTORUA, January 27. At 2.50 a.m. to-day a combination lorry used for mails and passengers, driven by Hugh M’Pherson, and conveying 18 Natives, who were returning to Rnatahuna from a tangi at Te.whaiti, went over a bank, 300yds from Tewhaiti. It is assumed that the steering gear failed. The car plunged through the titree into the river, where it overturned, pinning the occupants underneath. Aid was immediately forthcoming, and the victims were extricated and carried to the meeting house. One was found to be dead, and all the others are injured, some very seriously. The driver sustained a scalp wound, but was able to render aid. Doctors were immediately called up from Rotorua, and are proceeding to the scene. Details and the names of the injured are not available at present.