ROAD AND OTHER ACCIDENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21530, 18 December 1939, Page 6

ROAD AND OTHER ACCIDENTS

Loss of Life At The ( Week-end Fatal Collision By Telegraph —Press Association WELLINGTON. December 17. A man was fatally injured and another seriously hurt in an accident at the corner of Arc and Durham Streets on Saturday night. The victims were: Dead: Henry Bond Sievers, aged 23, single, a South Makara municipal milk roundsman. Injured William Goggin, Post and Telegraph Department messenger, Holloway Road, Wellington, fractured left thigh and head injuries. Sievers was the rider of a motorcycle, with Goggin as pillion passenger. which collided with a motorcar. They were taken to the public hospital. Sievers died at 2.30 a.m. s to-day. Goggin’s condition is serious. c TRAGEDY AT KERRYTOWN < BOY DROWNED IN WATER-RACE ? Jumping in to save a younger lad c who, he thought, was in trouble, Richard Bruce Williams, aged nine, met an heroic death in a tragic acci- 5 dent at Keirytown, yesterday after- 1 noon. As he jumped into the water I he struck his head on some concrete and, rendered unconscious was carried over a weir and into a syphon, his body being recovered 300 yards down the water race in which the accident I happened. The most tragic part of ( the accident was the fact that without < his aid his younger comrade reached safety. . The boy was the son of Mr and Mrs R. J. Williams, Kerrytown, and the ; accident occurred at the gate to the property occupied by Mr Williams on the Pleasant Point-Arowhenua Road. Six or seven boys and girls were playing in the water when Bruce Williams ; noticed one apparently in difficulties. • A good swimmer he jumped into the water race, which was carrying a little more than 18 inches of water. He 1 apparently slipped and struck his head i as he did so. The first the father 1 knew of the accident was when two or three of the boy’s playmates rushed to the house. Mr Williams immediately went to the race but by that , time the boy had been carried over the weir and through a syphon about 30 feet in length. Unable to see the boy Mr Williams succeeded in turning the water partially off then explored the syphon. The body was eventually found 300 yards down the water race. The children had frequently bathed at that spot. The water was moving only slowly at the time, but it was swift over the drop and over the three concrete drops in the syphon. BATHING ACCIDENT GIRL LOSES HER LIFE By Telegraph —Press Association AUCKLAND, December 17. A drowning accident occurred at a point on the Waikato river near Puni this afternoon. The victim was Miss Dorothj’ Winifred Hiscock, aged 19, of Puni. Miss Hiscock was one of a family party comprising two brothers and two sisters who went to the river for a swim. They all entered the water, but after a while the other three got out and rested on the bank. The older sister was still swimming when the others heard a cry for help from her. The younger brother, Archibald Hiscock, plunged into the water, which was very choppy and ran strongly, and struck out for his sister. The older brother. Alexander Hiscock, ran a few yards up the bank and launched a boat. Meanwhile the younger brother had reached his sister and made an effort to bring her to the boat, which : was then only a short distance away. His strength gave out before they I could be pulled aboard, and both sank beneath the surface. The brother rose to the surface alone and was haulted into the boat. The water at the point where the girl disappeared is very deep, and nothing further was seen of her. SCHOOLBOYS' DEATH By Telegraph —Press Assoclatlop AUCKLAND. December 17. A schoolboy riding a bicycle collided with a motor car at Onehunga on Saturday afternoon and suffered severe head injuries from which he subsequently died in the Auckland Hospital. " The victim was George Blagdon Wescott, aged 13, of Onehunga. The boy, riding a borrowed bicycle, was on his way to Waikaraka Park where he was to report for duty as a cadet of the St. John Ambulance Brigade. After striking the car he fell heavily to the road. GUNNER KILLED Bv Telegraph Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, December 16. ■ Overbalancing and falling 20 feet on to the rocks below, a gunner stat- ' ioned at Battery Point was killed ' almost instantaneously this morning. 1 The dead man was Gunner William . David Burke, of 74 Clyde Street, In- ■ vercargill, aged 20 years. Gunner Burke, who was alone at the time, was tipping rubbish over the cliff . when he lost his balance and fell. I striking his head on the rocks. > drowning tragedy feared ) By lelegraph —Press Association , DUNEDIN, December 17. The discovery of an empty fishing ' launch on the Portobello side of the r harbour early this morning leads to t the belief that a drowning fatality f occurred. A man’s coat, boots and other clothing were found in the boat. ’ There were letters in a pocket identi- ' fying the owner as John Steffens ' Olfman, of St. Kilda, who went fishr ing early in the morning. The police ~ are carrying out a search. r r DROWNED IN COPPER ■I Q By Telegraph —Press Association 1 AUCKLAND, December 17. , A child was found drowned in a copper at her home at Waharoa this morning. The victim was Elaine Mars garet Bug. aged 2J years. She was t. left playing with a dipper to bail out j the copper and was found shortly after by her mother floa'mg face •■ down in the water, which was about six inches from the top of the copper.