KUROW FATALITY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18584, 3 June 1930, Page 5

KUROW FATALITY.

CAR GOES OVER BANK. Further details concerning the death of Mr Richard Mahan. Waimate representative of the firm of Dominion Motors Limited, who was found lying in hfs car in the Waitaki River at the foot of a steep cliff, were obtained by a "Herald” representative yesterday. It is understood that deceased left Waimate early on Thursday morning on his way to interview' a prospective client in the Kurow district. He did not return home that night, and on Friday a party set out to search for him. On Friday night the party discovered the car in the Waitaki river, and on the following morning they found deceased in the car, which was lying in seven feet of water, at the base of a very steep cliff. The road in this vicinity is generally known as the Slip | Road, and the scene of the accident ‘ was at the bottom of a steep down j grade, where the road takes a curve. . Deceased had evidently misjudged the turn and had gone over the edge of | the road, which at this point is 250 j feet above the river. Deceased, who was known to have been in Kurow at 3.30 p.m. on Thursday, was at the time of the accident on his way home to Waimate. An inquest into the circumstances ! of the death of the deceased w r as held by the acting-coroner, Mr J. L. Mc- , Phail, at Kurow on Sunday. The verdict was that deceased died of heart failure, and it was thought that there ; w r as a possibility that he may have I had a seizure which made him lose . control of the car. There was water j in the lungs and this was an indication | that he was alive when he struck the , water. The funeral took place in Waimate I on Monday afternoon, the service at j the graveside being conducted by Canon j 1 P. J. Cocks, B.A. The cortege was headed by about I twenty South African war veterans. | deceased having seen service during the ! ! Boer War. leaving New Zealand with the 9th reinforcements. Deceased was a ■ i i member of the Oddfellows Lodge, and • several of the local brethren were pre- . sent at the funeral. The pall bearers i > were R. and E. Mahan (sons of | i deceased). S. Malthus. J. Smith, C. W. j • Englefield, and a cousin of the deceased ' from Oamaru. The late Mr Mahan. ! ' who was 49 years of age. leaves a widow ■ and a family of four sons (one married) 1 ' and three daughters, all residing in 1 Waimate.