BUS AND CAR COLLIDE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20965, 3 March 1930, Page 10

BUS AND CAR COLLIDE.

A TERRIFIC IMPACT. MAN REMOVED TO HOSPITAL. BRAVERY OF A MAORI. (Peb United Peess Association.) ROTORUA, March 2. A collision between a heavily laden bus and a motor car occurred at 10.45 last night on the Whakarewarewa road. The bus was returning to Whaka from a picture entertainment at Rotorua. Every scat was occupied when the oar, steering erratically, was seen approaching. The occupants of the bus were greatly alarmed but the driver of the bus, D. MacS'arlane, kept his course. The car, travelling fast, struck the bus almost end on, slightly on the . near side. The impact was terrific, and the bus chassis, a heavy International, was buckled, the dumb iron being driven in and the springs- and ironwork smashed. The seats were torn from the floor, and passengers hurled on top of one another. A Maori, anticipating a collision, wrapped a baby in a rug, bending over to protect it. Passengers were thrown on top of him, and he fainted, but the baby was discovered uninjured. A girl sitting near the door was hurled on to the grass on the roadside, and was rendered unconscious. Pour front windows of the bus were smashed. A few cuts resulting from splinters of glass and bruises from the overturning of seats comprised the sole injuries of the remainder of the occupants. Praise is due to the driver, who, b> keeping his head, prevented a terrible .disaster. The motor car was a new model Ford tourer owned and driven .by William George Currin, of Mataf*. who was taken to the hospital much cue and bruised. The car was wrecked. The impact locked the two chassis, and the vehicles had to be pulled apait. "Ti > town was crowded owing to the of Wirth’s Circus, and there was heavy traffic on the roads. The crash was heard a great distance away, and brought a big crowd of spectators, who remained there till after midnight.