SERIOUS ACCIDENT TO ONE OF COBB'S COACHES.

West Coast Times, Issue 591, 16 August 1867, Page 5

SERIOUS ACCIDENT TO ONE OF COBB'S COACH ES.

(from the otago daily times, aug. 7.)

A. =enous accident happened to Hoyt, Chaplin and Co.'s coach which left town yesterday for Tokomairiro, filled with passengers. As one result of that accident, Mr John Hislop, Inspector of Schools, nnd Secretary to the Education Board, suffered a fracture of the left leg, and other injuries, which will no doubt cause a painful and long confinement to his house ; but no other passenger was injured seriously ; and the cott-equertces of tho accident, as a whole, were fortunately not at all of such a character ns might be concluded from the exaggerated reports current in the city throughout yesterday. The c^ack, which, at the time of the accident, had fleven inside \ asseugera (three of them being women) and five or six outside, was i 'riven by Mr James Mackintosh. Without disrespect to other careful and excellent drivers envi oyed by the firm, Macintosh may be snid to be one of the bpsfc and the ni"St steadily careful He had a young horse as one of the shatters ; and that horse was occa>ionallv very restive. He once or more, we me told, kicked over the traces ; but all was kept right by Macintosh until Saddle Hill had been topped. Very soon after the descent had been begun, the yung horse attain turned restive, and » hile so, one of his ham-straps broke. The consequent loosing of the harness made the horse worse ; he got somewhit entangled with, the flipping traces; and, by the time he got unmanageable, the other horses were stanled, and all were ga loping furiously down the hill. Purvis s Jnn sands to the left, as the coacli was going in a sharp bind of tho road ; and ju'-t below the inn, thpre is a seaiicircular widening out of the road. To the riislit of the road, the hill side has a steepish and nasty fall. Macintosh d*d all that was po*sible with brake and reins to check the horses —in which he failed , or at least to keep them in to the bank, on his left -in which he fortunately succeeded. The personal injuries caused by the accident are to be greatly lamented ; but life would almost ceriainly have been lost had ihc horses not been got towards the bank When the coacli had all but safely mide the sharp turn in the road, it capsized, falling towards the bank. Mr Hislop w»s on the seat on the top of the couch. As the coach turned over he sprang off. and lie beluve> that he would have succeeded iv leaping clear of the coach as it feil. but that he was struck by one of the frontseat passengers, who had also leaped off. The c 'nsequence was that the coach fell upon him. Dr Smith; Mr D. Miiitland. and Mr J. Barr, hotel-keeper, all of the L'lutlia, were togeiher in front of the coach. They were all much shaken and bruised ; Dr Smith s training one of his ankles slighby,, and Mr Bur ge tinn a nasty contusion on the s'lonLler Macintosh also buffered a sprain in addition to shakes and bruises, his left ankle being a goo.l deal hurt. The coach was dashed over with such force, t>int itstroimly constructed top flew off. "in splinters "almost. T e eleven "insides," already terribly jostled together, were some of them projected into the mud heaps lining the lvad; whle others r.-niained sufficiently within the body of the coach to be dragged on by it for a short di-tmce before the hoises came to a suuid. By this dragging, the mo 4 serious visible injury sustained by any of the inside passengers, was ca ised Mr Menlove, butcher, was of that number ; a d the left side of his head was much cont^ed and somewhat cut. The three women, be_\ond the terrible shaking and fright, are believed not to have suff. red. As soon as some of the p.issengers recovered themselves sufficiently to look v >und, Mr Hislop' was seen! lying nlmost completely under ihe side of tue bo..y of tue carriage, which was not much damaged, beyond the lo s of a wheel, through the axle snapping in the upset. All who could do so instantly gave assistance; and the coach being lifted, •Mr Hislop was taken up, and carried into AJr Purvis's, where a bed had been prepared for him. The residents at Purvis's and in the neighborhood gave al the aid pos»ible ; and a messenger was sent on to th- Taieii for Hr Ingl.s, while another started for town, to inform .\Jtssrs Hoyt, Chaplin, and Co , of what had happen* d. Meminrs of the firm were soon on the roid out; lhe L ommi-sioner Police took out 1)r Alexander, who had been sent for by the firm, and Dr Bruce started subsequently. When Dr Alexand r got lo Purvis s he found that Dr Inglis had attended temporarily to Mr HL-lop's injuries, and had gone home for sp.ints ; but Dr Burns, bringing splints with him, arrived before Dr lnglis returned. Ie was found that the bones of Mr ilislop's leg were badly fractured above tho ankle ; that he Ma's hurt about the lelt bhoulder, but whether there was a fracture o the shoulder or collar bone, could not be decided : and that th' re was not reason to fear injury to the chest, as was at first feared. Mr Hislop bore his severe sufferings well, and even cheerfully ; the surgeons did ..11 that was possible for him ; he was vi>ited by members of his family ; and early in tho. evening, he was got home, an express wa^on, made as convenient as it could be, having been used for his conveyance. The surgeons, we believe, agreo that the fracture of the leg was a consequence of the leap— not o£ the ooach falling upon Mr Hislop. Dr. Smith, with Messrs ! Maitland and Barr, wore able io start for tho Clufcha together, in an open buggy, duiiiigthe forenoon; and with the exception of Mr Menlove, tho other passengers continued their journey, in a coach which had b'eu sent from town. Mr Menlove aud Macintosh came back to Dunedin; but neither of them is likely lo be confined at home for more than a few da> s.— Messrs H<>> I, Chaplin and Co. did. we believe, literally everything that could be done to atluviatc* l'<e sufferings caused by the ace. dent ; and the surgeons left untended no hurts to which, their attention was culled. Wo Live not* heard a syllable suggesiive of other than pr.iise of Macintosh for his conduct throughout what was purely an accident, pamful a> the consequences of that accident must be to Mr liislop, his i'amily, and ins many friends.

The coach which left llokitiku for Christchurch on Tuesday morning returned next evening from the C.is 3 without passengers. Tho road over Porior's Puss.wns still inipissable for vehicles, tho inai's to and from Cnri-it-church being packed, and passengers having to go over on horseback.

Tho new Muniei|>,il Bill brought into the Assembly b) tho General Government provides that thf Sfayoi* of tho various Corporations are to bo ex offieio Justices of the Peace. Their jurisdiction, however, is not to extend beyond the boundary of the raspootivo borougUa over which they preside.