CROSSING SMASH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 January 1940, Page 7

CROSSING SMASH

? MOTHER AND DAUGHTER KILLED. TRAGEDY NEAR MORRINSVILLE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND. January 3. Two women, mother and daughter, were killed tonight when a motor-car of which they were the only occupants was struck by the Rotorua-Auckland passenger train at the Motumaoho level crossing about two miles from Morrinsville. The victims were: — Mrs Laura Smith, aged 64 years, wife of Mr Maurice Smith, of Puriri. near Thames. Miss Agnes Constance Walton Smith, aged 24, of Puriri. Miss Smith was driving the car in the direction of Puriri. The car was completely wrecked and the occupants were killed immediately, both suffering terrible head and internal injuries. Miss Smith was thrown on the bank beside the crossing, while her mother was carried into an old sand-pit twelve yards away from the road. So great was the impact that the body of the car was torn completely from the chassis and hurled a chain away. Mr Smith and his family worked a small farm near Thames. The police and a doctor were quickly on the scene and the victims were taken back to Morrinsville. The train was not damp.gcci. About two years ago the Public Works Department contemplated erecting an over-bridge to eliminate this level crossing. However, after several reinforced concrete piles had been constructed. the work was abandoned and the concrete piles remain in a paddock alongside the scene of tonight's double fatality. ■ This is the second fatal accident to occur at a level crossing near Morrinsville within, six weeks. The other was when a motor-lorry driver was killed at the Piako crossing on the east side of the town. _________