OVER A BANK

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1929, 2 November 1926, Page 4

OVER A BANK

ACCIDENT OX TE KUITI EOAD. CAR SWERVES TO AVOID CYCLIST. An alarming experience befel a motoring party proceeding from Te Awamutu on Sunday morning last to the Waitomo Caves. The car, a Studebaker seven-seater, was driven by Mr Sid Houston, of Parawsr&T and with him were Mrs J. (Auckland), Misses Houston, Bray atijk K. Woolly and Master Dick Lord. All went well until the car was ascending a 'hill about four or five miles south of Otorohanga.' When near a bend a cyclist shot. round the corner travelling fast on the downhill grade, and Mr Houston made room for him to pass. Just as he had gained the centre of the road again a second cyclist was noticed following his companion, and also travelling fast. Mr Houston again pulled as far off the roadway as possible, but the sudden swerve must have caused a tyre to wrench off, with the result that the wheel refused to answer and the car went over the edge, travelling down a slope and crashing right through a wire fence. ) The lurch as it emerged into the paddock caused the car to over-balance, and the steeper gradient completed the somersault, the car coming to rest upside down. The windscreen of the car was broken "to smithereens," but fortunately the hood withstood the strain. The first to emerge from the car was Miss Bray, and she could not extricate the others, so she endeavoured to prevent the car sinking deeper into the soft ground while she called to the cyclists for help. Then Dick Lord and Mr Houston were released, Mr Houston being practically helpless with a very severe cut on the outside of the right thigh. The three * ladies were also released from their temporary imprisonment. First aid to the injured man, who was bleeding profusely, was quickly applied, and a neighbouring settler who had been attracted to the scene, took Mr Houston to Otorohanga for attention by a doctor. The other members of the party were also conveyed to Otorohanga, and later brought home to Te Awamutu by Mr C. Davis. Mr Houston was the only one of the six at all seriously injured, but not one escaped bruises. At latest advices they are making good progress'towards complete recovery.