THE WANGALOA TRAGEDY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20963, 28 February 1930, Page 2

THE WANGALOA TRAGEDY.

INQUEST CONCLUDED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) BALCLUTHA, February 27. The 'adjourned inquiry touching the death of Norman Begg, aged 18, of Milton, who died in the Balclutha Hospital on February 5 as the result of a motor car accident on the Wangaloa beach on February 3, was continued today before Mr W, Roy, J.P., acting coroner, and a jury comprising Messrs D. Watt (foreman), R. Buchanan, W. Stewart and W. Kean, at the Balclutha courthouse. Sergeant Armstrong conducted the inquiry. Arthur Cecil Barker Begga, medical superintendent of Balclutha Hospital, stated that at midday on February 3 Norman Begg was admitted to the hospital. He was suffering from a compound comminuted fracture of the skull in the right temple region; a large piece of skull bone had been driven into the brain, causing severe laceration of the brain substance. The fragment of bone in the brain was removed. All measures were taken that were possible, but on the sth his condition became worse, and he died at 6.30 p.m. His death was due to the severe injury to the brain, which must have been sustained by a direct blow on the right side of the head.

George Richard Legge, employed by Lewis Burn, hairdresser, Milton,- said that on Saturday, February 1, he left Milton in a four-seater Ford car accompanied by William Patrick Condon, to whom the car belonged, and deceased. The deceased’s father was driving. They reached Toko Mouth at 8.15 p.m. About an hoGr and a-half after Theodore Kitching came to the crib and Joined the party. On the 2nd, after breakfast, about 9.30, they went for a ride along the Wangaloa Beach. The deceased was driving and Condon was sitting in the front seat, Kitching and witness being in the back. The car would be running about 15 feet from the water, the tide being out. The speed was between 20 and 25 miles an hour. ' They had gone two or three miles along the beach before they struck a water-hole. Finally they struck a larger hole, and the bump caused Begg to lose control of the car, which somersaulted and then turned on its side. Witness was thrown out when the car overturned. The others were thrown out. Ha saw deceased slightly under the hood of the car. One stay was resting on his head and shoulder, but ho could not say whether it had penetrated his head. His head was bleeding profusely. The other two men were unconscious. After releasing Begg witness went to the assistance of the other two. Later Kitching went for assistance along the beach. All the occupants of the car were sober. To the foreman: He did not see any boulders on the beach. The deceased was a capable driver.

John Scott, farmer, Wangaloa, gave evidence that on Sunday, February 2, he was on his farm when he was called to the scene of the motor accident on the beach .beeween 11 and 12 noon. The car was lying on its side at right angles to the direction in which it had been travelling, j The right-hand rear wheel was completely broken. The accident was caused by a channel in the sand which had been washed out by the outgoing tide. It was six to seven inches deep, and when witness saw it the water was seeping into it. He considered the hole was deep enough to turn over an old model Ford car, and in witness’s opinion that was what had ‘ occurred. There were _no marks to indicate the speed at which the car had been travelling.

To the coroner: The steering gear was bent, but this might have been caused by the accident.

Frederick James Wilfred- Tosswill, farmer, Wangaloa, gave evidence that he went to' the scene of the accident and saw a broken motor car, which he helpeu to pull on to the dry sand. The of? rear wheel was broken and the steering gear bent._ He attributed the accident to a hole in (jhc sand. The steering gear had evidently locked, causing the car to turn over. It was not dangerous to drive a car at 20 miles an hour, although the Wangaloa beach was more dangerous to motorists s than’ other beaches in the district. Witness arrived on the scene at 2.30 p.m., and the ambulance had just left.

She witness -Legge asked if the fact the men were left lying on the beach for nearly three hours did not contribute to the death of Begg, Sergeant Armstrong: That is a question for the coroner. The coroner: It will be looked into. The witness Tosswell added that it seemed ridiculous that it should take the ambulance three hours to come 17 miles from Balclutha. The doctor from Kaitangata got there at 12 noon.

The jury brought in a verdict that death was due to a severe laceration of the brain caused by a compound fracture of the skull received in the accidental overturning of a motor car driven by deceased on the Wangaloa Beach on February 2. The coroner added that he would like to convey the sympathy of the court to the parents of the deceased. The driver of the ambulance, In a statement to the coroner, said that he received word at 12,55 that the ambulance was wanted, and it was at the scene of the accident at p.m. The delay occasioned by changing a wheel on the road was only three and a-half minutes and the delay mentioned by witnesses was caused by the time that elapsed before ,thc message was received at Balclutha. '