FOUR INQUESTS ARE HELD AT OPOTIKI.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19035, 2 April 1930, Page 10

FOUR INQUESTS ARE HELD AT OPOTIKI.

MOTOR SMASH DUE TO INEXPERIENCE. Per Press Association. OPOTIKI, April 2. Mr F. J. Short, District Coroner, set a record as far as Opotiki is concerned this morning when he conducted four inquests. The first inquest was on a male Maori child which was stillborn. The verdict was in accordance with the medical evidence, that death was caused by the chest being crushed whilst it was being born. The Coroner was of the opinion that if the mother, Arahue Taupe, had received proper treatment the life of the child would have been saved. The second inquest was on Albert George Buttertrorth, who came by his death through colliding with a service car on March 11. The verdict was that deceased died of a fracture of the skull, no blame being attachable to anyone. The other inquests were on the victims of the motor fatality on Sunday last, Frederick Cracknell and his wife. Mary Ann Cracknell. The verdict was that death was purely accidental, the mishap being caused by the inexperience of the driver, who was killed instantaneously by a fracture of the skull. Ill’s wife, Mary Ann Cracknell, died from a fracture of the skull and shock.