GORGE HILL ACCIDENT

Waikato Independent, Volume XXVII, Issue 2767, 5 April 1927, Page 4

GORGE HILL ACCIDENT

MOTOR CAE IN TOW.

CfETfS OUT Of CONTIiOL,

Two cars, one with its wheels in thd

...sd the other hard up against a bank at the Gorge Hill on the main road to Kurapiro on Saturday afternoon were mute evidence to • passersrby of a more or less serious accident.

It appears that Herbert Charles Smith, of Ngongotaha’, near ' Rotorua, was travelling to Cambridge on Saturday in his Ford car which broke down on Potts’ Hill. Subsequently a Dodge car driven by ICiwa Graham ami two other natives; from Arapuni came along, and at Smith's request took the Font in tow. All went well until they reach-, cd the top of the Gorge Hill, when the driver of the towed car found that his brakes would not act. Gathering, speed the Ford was in danger of crashing into the front .car and to avoid this Smith inclined the'vehicle to the right bank which it crashed into just opposite the point of the first bend on the hill. Unfortunately, in passing the Dodge the tow-rope caught the car witli such force that it was capsized in the centre of the road. h . .

Despite the fact that the hood and frame were crushed flat the occupants were able to crawl out from under the upturned?' vehicle Uninjured with the exception ol: minor cuts and abrasions. The driver of the Ford was also uninjured. The damage to the'cars was confined to a broken wheel on the Ford, while all the top-gear of the Dodge was badly damaged.