PLUNGE INTO RIVER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 July 1939, Page 9

PLUNGE INTO RIVER

HAWKE'S BAY WOOL BROKER DROWNED IN CAR. FAILURE TO NEGOTIATE BRIDGE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) NAPIER. July 14. Imprisoned in his motor-car when it plunged into the swollen waters of the Tahaenui River, on the Napier Wairoa road near Nuhaka, last night, Mr Herbert Neil Galbraith, manager of the wool department of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers' Co-operative Association, was drowned. The indications were that the car, a five-seater sedan, crashed over a bank when it failed to negotiate a bridge, and rolled into the river, coming to rest on its side. The uppermost side of the car was only a short distance beneath the water. A passing motorist saw the car in the river and notified the Wairoa police, Sergeant D. Clark hastening to the scene. The car was dragged out on to the road, and the body of Mr Galbraith was found inside. His watch had stopped at 7.50, and it was shortly after 9 o’clock when the vehicle was recovered from the river. The body was conveyed to the Wairoa morgue and the car, which was extensively damaged, was towed into Wairoa. An inquest was opened today before Mr V. E. Winter, J.P., and adjourned after evidence of identification had been taken. It was stated at the inquest that relatives of Mr Galbraith lived in Wellington. Reference to Mr Galbraith’s death was made today at the annual general meeting of shareholders of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Co-operative Association Ltd by the chairman, Mr J. W. Harding. "By his sterling qualities and unassuming manner Mr Galbraith endeared himself to all with whom he came in contact,” said Mr Harding. A motion expressing sympathy with the relatives was passed, members standing in silence. Mr Galbraith had been in jhe district for two years and was a popular figure in the auctioneer's box at wool sales held in Napier. Mr Galbraith wtS formerly on the staff of Walter Hill and Co, woolbrokers, Christchurch, and for a number of years sat on the buyers' benches at wool sales throughout the Dominion. He was a keen sportsman, an enthusiastic tennis player and a strong supporter of trotting. For several years he was a steward of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club. Mr Galbraith was unmarried. He is survived by his mother, who resides in Wellington, one brother, who is on the staff of the Bank of New Zealand, and one sister, Mrs Lackey, Auckland. His father was at one time manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company in Wellington.