A MOTOR SMASH.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1358, 20 June 1918, Page 9

A MOTOR SMASH.

FOUR PEOPLE INJURED. CAR COLLIDES WITH TREE. A collision which occurred between a taxi cab and a tree on Bealey Avenue, between Manchester and Colombo Streets, resulted in '.he driver, Ginn, and a passenger, James Fox, being taken to the Hospital, the latter having received severe injuries. Two women in the ba-ck of the car were thrown out on the road, and suffered bruises and minor injuries.

| The accident occurred shortly before noon. A large seven-seater taxi, of the touring car type, was going I westward along Bealey Avenue, carrying three passengers besides 'the driver. The two men were in !front, and the women sitting in the rear of the ear, which was on the left side of the row of trees, but running close alongside. The driver turned his head, apparently to speak to someone at the back, and it is also staled that lie attempted to pull a rug out, and instead pulled the steer-ing-wheel, and the ear turned suddenly and crashed head-on into a tree. There was a loud crash, accompanied by the tinkling of glass as the windscreen was shattered with the shock, and the four occupants were thrown clear of the car into the road. Ginn was thrown out over the side and received a cut down the nose and across the left eye, but Fox, wdio was shot out, either over or through the windscreen, was badly hurl, being severely cut about the head and faej and sustained a compound fracture of the leg. At the same time the two women at the Elizabeth Hockey, of North Road, Rapanui, and a young woman named Mrs Winifred Kelly, of 141 Milton Street, Spreydon—were thrown out on the road and were picked up in a dazed condition. Apart from being somewhat stunned, the two women received only bruises and one of them a cut lip. Help was quickly available, and the women were taken into a neighbouring house and there attended to. Dr Morkane was summoned, and after attending to the two men ordered their removal to the Hospital, where it was found necessary to operate on Fox.

The motor car was brought to a standstill by a sturdy silver beech tree, the trunk of which was wedged (irmly between the two front springs. The front axle was bent back, the lamps smashed, and the radiator bent in.