CHRISTMAS TRAGEDIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21529, 29 December 1931, Page 7

CHRISTMAS TRAGEDIES

SEVERAL IN AUSTRALIA EIGHT PEOPLE DROWNED. SYDNEY, December 28. The Christmas holiday tragedies numbered' nine in New South Wales, where .five people were drowned and four were killed in car smashes. There were three drowning fatalities at Brisbane. The week-end was extremely hot. Fires ih South Wagga swept a large area of wheat and grass lands over a front of several, miles. The were unable, to’ stem the flames. . In South Australia fires in scrub lands near Bridgewater threatened a number of picnic campers, who had an anxious time getting to safety by the combined efforts of men, women, and children, whose 1 merrymaking turned to a grim fight to save their lives and property. ACCIDENTS IN ENGLAND. TWENTY-THREE PEOPLE KILLED. LONDON, December 27. Twenty-three people were killed in Christmas road and other accidents. The worst -occurred’at Staines, where a car driven by Mr Henry Burton Tafe, a me'mber of the famous sugar family, skidded and overturned’ in a ditch, killing his two sons, Arthur (21) and Robin (19). Mr Tate was thrown clear. A retired schoolmistress was incinerated at Bayswater, her clothes catching fire while she was cooking the Christmas dinner.