ACCIDENT OCCURS AT ARTHUR'S PASS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19109, 30 June 1930, Page 7

ACCIDENT OCCURS AT ARTHUR'S PASS.

YOUNG WOMAN INJURED WHILE SLIDING ON ICE,

Losing her balance while sliding on the frozen surface of Margaret’s Tarn, a tiny lake on the track to the Bealey Glacier, Miss Vera Neilson, Baretta Street, Spreydon, one of the excursionists who journeyed to Arthur’s Pass yesterday, fell heavily on the ice and sustained a painful injury to her back, necessitating her being carried back to the train on an improvised ambulance. Her injuries are not serious.

When Miss Ncilson fell, she lost consciousness for a while and it was evident to her friends and others who were present that she was rather badly injured. Several young men carried her on theirvarms some distance back along the track and then a stretcher was improvised by using a couple- of direction posts torn from the ground and placing overcoats across them. Later the stretcher was reinforced with a pair of skins and a quilt secured from Mr G. R. Butler’s hut at the junction of the track with the road. Very great difficulty was experienced by the young men in carrying Miss Neilson back to the township. The track is extremely steep and narrow in a number of places, and there is only a narrow plank as a bridge over a mountain stream that had to be crossed.

On reaching the settlement, Miss Neilson, who was still suffering a good deal of pain, was taken to the Hostel, where she received every care and attention. There was no doctor at Arthur’s Pass, but two nurses who were with a party of Workers’ Educational Association students, were able to render assistance to the injured young woman. It was believed that she had strained the sinews in her back as a result of her fall.. She also suffered slight concussion.

It is considered that the accident was due chiefly to the fact that Miss Neilson was wearing only a light pair of shoes. Had she been equipped with a pair of boots such as a large number of the excursionists were wearing yesterday. it is probable that she would have succeeded in retaining her balance.