FATALLY INJURED

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7903, 17 September 1929, Page 2

FATALLY INJURED

RECENTLY ARRIVED RAILWAY OFFICER COLLISION WITH EXPRESS ON WAIHI-TAURANGA LINE Fatal injuries were sustained by Mr Richard John Perry, acting inspector of permanent ways, when a motor jigger which he was driving from Tauranga came into collision with the 11.5 o’clock train from Waihi near the Waimata station. Mr Perry, who was a middle-aged man and who resided with his wife at Ellerslie, suffered a compound fracture of the skull and extensive brain injuries, as well as fractures of both legs and one arm. The injured man was brought on to Waihi by train, and after he had received attention from Dr. J. McMurray Cole at the railway station ho was removed to the hospital in the town ambulance. Little hope was held out for his recovery, and Mrs Perry was sent for. The unfortunate man died at about 4.30 in the afternoon.

Mr Perry arrived in the district only last Saturday, and yesterday was his first day on this section of the line. At the time of the impact the train would have been travelling at about thirty miles an hour, while it is probable that the speed of the jigger was in the vicinity of twenty miles an hour.

An inquest was opened before the district coroner (Mr W. M. Wallnutt) this morning, after evidence of identification had been given by the wife of the deceased it was adjourned sine die. Mrs Perry stated that her husband left his home at Auckland to take up his new duties last Tuesday. He was 53 years of age, and they bad three grown-up children.