CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3443, 9 March 1920, Page 49

CASUALTIES.

The Superintendent of Police has been notified by the; police at Clyde that the body of William Robb, aged 28 .years, a returned soldier, who has been ims'snijy from the Tan-as Station since February 21, was found in the Clutha River, near Lowburn, on Sunday. 29th ult. It is believed that he fell into the river '..while crossing in a chair suspended from a wire rope., A shocking accident happened to the little four-year-old daughter ot Mr and Mrs Robert Hunter, jun., of Tuapeka West, on Wednesday, 25th ult. (says the Tuapeka Times). It appeals that Mr Hunter was cutting a crop of oats adjacent to the house, and that the child, who was playing with a kitten, got into the crop unnoticed, with the result that she wa s overtaken by the mower, and before it could be stopped had her foot severed just above the ankle. First aid was rendered as promptly as possible, and Mr H. Thompson, who- was in the vicinity, brought the little sufferer into the hospital, where Dr Sutherland attended to her injuries-. Reports indicate that the child is doing as well as can be expected. The police has received word from Motuhora that a returned soldier named Joseph Herbert Patrick Murphy, aged 30, was found fatally shot in the head after handling a .303 rifle. Deceased left with the Sixth Mounted Rifles, and transferred to the artillery in Egypt, and served with that force in France. No further details are available. • Henry James Knott, a married man, 30 years of age, was found, on his farm st Glenroy, Canterbury, hanged. A motoring accident, the victims of which were Harry Stockley (a jockey) and E. O. Walker (a taxi driver), both of Auckland, occurred on the sth near Paeroa. A car containing Uie two deceased arid Herbert Cogan, and driven by Walker, was en route from "Te Aroha to Thames about dusk. The driver mistook the way, and took the NetKerton road., about a mile and a-half beyond Paeroa. The Puke bridge, spanning the .'Wairoa River, was opened to allow the passage of the steamer Waimarie. The bridge-opener saw the car approaching, and called out. but Walker was unable to pull the motor up, and it plunged into the opening, being precipitated into the water below.' Sf-ockley and Walker wore both drowned, but Cogan reached the shore in an exhausted condition. Benjamin M. v - Guinness, late overseer of telegraph linesmen, died suddenly on the 4th at Christchurch. He was brother of the late Sir Arthur Guinness, and was aged 67. Robert M'Kinnon, a married man, aged 37 years, who has been a station manager in Wairaraua for some years, shot himself in the head with a revolver at his home _ at Lansdpwno on Saturday, 6th inst. He died later in the hospital. At the inquest it was shown that he had been suffering from a nervous breakdown, and a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane was returned. A man named Cornelius Wiley was admitted to the Greytown Hospital on the 6th suffering from serious injuries, sustained through collision with a goods train while riding a motor cycle. A sensational accident occurred at Waikanae Reach at 7 p.m. on the 6th inst., the result of which was that a married man named Ronald M'lnnes, 51 years oi age, was drowned. The deceased, with another man named Leonard Burne, went fishing in a flat-bottomed boat. The boat drifted to within a hundred yards of the beach, and

capsized In the breakers. Both started to swim ashore, and then turned back and attempted to right' the boat. This failed. They started _ again for the shore, MTnnes called for assistance, and Bume, in attempting to go back, was washed away by a breaker. Burne’ however, got near the land in an exhausted condition, and was pulled ashore. Mr and Mrs Ernest Warren and Mr Ralph Morse swam through ths breakers, and rescued MTnpes, who wm brought ashore in a collapsed state. Artificial respiration was tried for half an hour without result. . A motor oar ran into a motor cycle and sidecar occupied by Mr" Albert Falconer and his wife and two children in Masterton on the 7th. One of the children was admitted to the hospital with severe injuries, while the others suffered a shaking and abrasions. A very well-known member of the Union Steam Ship Company’s clerical staff, Mr Robert N. Gordon, of 20 Wallace street, Roslyn, met with a painful and serious acoL dent on Saturday evening. He was splitting wood when a piece flew up and struck his eye, with the result, that he had to be taken to the Hospital for attention. Mr Gordon, who is 65 years of age, ia suffering somewhat from shook, but It ia hoped that it may yet be possible to save the eye. • ’ Frank Dwyer, 16 years of age, who resides with his parents at 19 Forth street, was brought to the Hospital on Sunday suffering from a broken leg. He was walking along a sandbank at St. Clair when the edge gave way with him and he fell A side-car, driven by Ernest Wilson, with Lindsay Scott as a passenger, collided with a trap near the Central Battery on Sunday. Scott, who is a single man living with his parents in Sheen street, Roslyn, was cut about the head and face, but though he wax admitted to the Hospital his injuries ai*e not considered serious. He is part proprietor of a garage in King street. Wilson, who was driving, escaped almost uninjured. The Auckland Savings Bank will take £50,010 of the City Council’s 51 per cent, loan. The question of sending a Commission to England for the purpose of assisting the Government to- solve the matter of the disposal of New Zealand meat was discussed, at a large and representative meeting’ of the Farmers’ Union held at Pahiatua on the 6th. The following resolution was unanimously carried :—“That this meeting j» not in favour of sending a commission to England, but urges upon the Govern ment the advisableness of retaining.'the services of Sir Thomas Mackenzie in the interests of the producers of New Zealand. General Sir Arthur Russell unveiled a memorial to fallen soldiers at St. Andrew’s Ohurch, Gisborne. Ho delivered, an impressive address on the lesson of cheerful self-sacrifice given by the men who died in the war. The dispute between the Christchurch Tramwaymen’s Union and the Christchurch Tramways Board has been settled in the Conciliation Council. The rates of wagwi as set out in the board’s proposals: were adopted with a few alterations. It. was decided that the ter l * l of the award he for two years, the principal part of the award to operate from February 1, 1920. SAD FATALITY AT MIDDLEMAROH. A particularly distressing fatality occurred on Saturday at the Gladbrook soldiers’ settlement, near Middlemaroh, a young man, a soldier-settler, named James Smith, being killed through a hay-fork entering his back and penetrating his heart. It appears that some six soldier-settlers were asisting a comrade to get his crop stacked, and had almost finished. Four of them, including the dcceaed, were sitting with their backs to the stack chatting, and one man was forking up sheaves from the other side of the stack, almost immediately opposite where the party were' sitting. In hoisting a sheaf the'fork slipped from the forkerii hands ,and carrying over the top of th& stack penetrated the deceased’s back, killing him almost instantly. Deceased, whose parents reside in the North Otago district, was married only a few weeks ago. The fatality has oast quite a gloom over the district.