FALLING ELMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23648, 4 November 1938, Page 18

FALLING ELMS

ACCIDENTS AND ESCAPES THREE PEOPLE KILLED WOMAN SAVED TRAIN ‘From Our Own Correspondent) fßy Air Mail) LONDON, Oct. 6. Considerable havoc has been wrought during the past few days by gales and storms, felt not only in London but throughout the country. Running a quarter of a mile along the L.N.E.R. line near her home at Broxbourne, Herts, Mrs Milton saved an express from disaster. “A telegraph pole has been blown across the rails; stop all trains,” she gasped to the station officials. Then she collapsed on the platform. The station staff phoned a signalman, who stopped a Liverpool street to Norwich train with 400 passengers. which was in the danger section. “ I was sitting with my husband,” she said, “ when I heard the crash of a pole falling. “I remembered the Norwich train which passes my home at 7.35. I had only a few minutes in which to stop it. It was very dark and I had to fight against the gale all the way, falling down several times. A few more seconds and it would have been too late. TREE CRASHES ON BUS

Three men were killed and ten people were injured when a tree fell on a double-decker bus in Beulah Hill, Norwood, at 7.15 one morning. An elm tree, over 40 feet high, in the front garden of a house, was loosened by the gale which had been blowing all night. The bus, on Route 169,. from Norwood Junction to South Hampstead, had reached the crest of Beulah Hill, when the tree fell, carried away some iron railings and stonework, and crashed on to the vehicle. The trunk tore its way through the upper deck, striking a number of passengers. The' rescuers had to fight their way through a mass of smashed woodwork, tree branches and broken glass before they could reach the injured. Electricity wires, torn down by the tree, added to their difficulties. Passers-by .'joined in the rescue, work. People from neigboufing houses fetched saws and helped to cut away, the branches. Their houses ; were converted into temporary hospitals, where the injured were treated until relays of ambulances arrived. A travelling crane was used to lift the tree trunk while firemen hacked their way through* the wreckage. Two passengers were extricated at 9 a.m. —nearly two hours after the accident occurred. Even then one man remained. The tree trunk had fallen across his legs, and he could not move. He smoked a cigarette and carried on a conversation with the rescuers as they tried desperately to free him. Later, the tree wasmoved, and the man was lowered to the, ground,’but he died when he was placed in an ambulance. r At that hour of the morning service No. 169 operates only every 15 minutes, yet the bus was unfortunate enough to be caught. “TERRIBLE JOLT” The driver said: “I was coming down the hill at 15 miles, an hour, when suddenly there came this crash behind me, and the bus pulled up with a terrible jolt. For a moment I did not realise what had happened, but then, looking back, I saw the trunk of the tree jammed down into the bus.” The tree missed the driver’s cabin and the conductor’s platform was undamaged. Ten passengers were taken to hospital. ELM TREES FIRST TO FALL Falling elms have been responsible for many fatal accidents. Because of the danger of even a slight wind bringing them down, the planting of elms in London parks has been prohibited by the Office of Works. An increase in their growth may cause them to fall, as they do not strike deep top roots. The A.A. have found that 95 per cent, of trees falling on roads are elms. They have surface roots which do not penetrate nearly as deep as those of other large trees. Not infrequently in suburban districts these are accidentally severed by workmen carrying out digging operations for drains and cables, and the hold of the elm becomes even weaker than usual. j DUTCH ELM BLIGHT “ Large numbers of elms are also afflicted with Dutch elm blight,” according to the secretary of the English Tree Expert Company, of Cobham. “ English and American chemists and forestry experts have been working in collaboration for a considerable time at Oxford to try to find a cure. If you look at almost any clump of elms in England today, nine times out of ten you will see branches which have been affected by the blight. The trouble is caused by an insect.” FREQUENT INSPECTIONS An official of the L.C.C. Parks Department said; “The marvellous thing is that elms do not fall more frequently There is not a very great proportion of elms in the inner area of London, and they are frequently inspected When any signs of danger are observed, they are cut down. In the suburbs there are hundreds of them, but they are not being danted in the central districts The majority of the young trees which we are planting to-day are London planes." On the same day as the Norwood mishap a falling elm, 100 years old, fell and struck a tram outside St. Matthew’s Church, Brixton; an elm fell on to a double-deck bus in St. Helier’s road, Hastings; a pedestrian had a narrow escape when a tree—again an elm—in Islington, was blown across the road.

The gale which lashed the British Isles for r night and day killed 17 neople, damaged hundreds of houses, cut off 50.000 phones and wrecked many of the seaside illumination schemes. Many ships were driven ashore: Channel services were cancelled: orices of fish went to “famine” limits because of a traveler hold-up.