MOTORING ACCIDENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18525, 4 January 1932, Page 6

MOTORING ACCIDENTS.

FATALITY NEAR TAUPIRI. ELDERLY MAN KILLED. THREE OTHER MEN INJURED. lIUNTI.Y, Sunday. A motor-car crashed through the railing of the Mangawara Bridge, near Taupiri, yesterday afternoon, falling into water ißft. deep. One man was killed and three injured. Details are: Killed. Mr Robert James Eaves, aged about 60. an employee at the Public Works camp at Owhiro, was killed instantly. Ids neck and bo ill arms being broken. He also had grave bead injuries. Injurod; Mr Henry Jeffery, camp cook at Owhiro and driver of the car, broken arm. Mr Alfred D. Primrose, of Ellerslie, severe shock followed by pleurisy. Mr Raymond John Ansell, of Mount Eden, minor injuries only.

Mr Eaves was formerly employed as a mill-hand by C. and A. Odlin, timber mediants, Newmarket. He was married.

The men, who were employed at the Owhiro camp, were ■ proceeding from Auckland to Hawera. When they reached the bridge, It was raining and the side-curtains of the car were up. The bridge forms almost a right-angle with the road at the northern approach. The car negotiated Hie turn but failed to straighten up. It struck the railing and crashed into the river about 12ft. below. Messrs Ansell and Primrose succeeded in scrambling out of the water.

A motorist who happened to be near, Mr Norman West Avery, of Napier, dived in, dragged Mr Eaves from tlie sunken car and brought him to land with Mr Ansell's assistance.

Mr Jeffery, hampered by his broken arm, had extricated himself meanwhile. A rope was passed under b„is armpits and he was hauled up on to the bridge. Attempts were made to apply artificial respiration in the case of Mr Eaves, without success. Ilis body was taken to Huntly, where an inquest will be held.

The other three occupants of the car, were conveyed to a private hospital at Ngaruawaliia. The car lias not been recovered.

“Happened In a Flash.”

Mr Primrose, when seen in hospital at Ngaruawaliia last evening, said that the whole thing happened in a flash. He could not remember how he extricated himself from the car, but as the side-curtains on the vehicle were up he considered his escape was miraculous.

Mr Ansell, who was in the back seat of Hie car with Mr Primrose, said he could only remember rising to Hie surface “with his head splitting.” He held on to a log, which lie pushed toward Mr Eaves, but the latter sank. Miss Phyllis Maud West, of Taupiri, said she saw Hie accident from a near by paddock. She called to her father and ran down lo Hie bridge, where she stopped a motorist, Mr Averv. Mr West was about to jump into 'tiie water, but Mr Avery said it was his place, as he was a younger man.

MISHAPS AT AUCKLAND. SEVERAL MOTOR CYCLISTS HURT. AUCKL AN D, Monday. Charles Edward Hood, aged 19, farm hand, of I’aparata, when a moloi cycle tie was riding was struck from the rear by a car last evening, sustained a compound fracture of the right leg, a tract,ure of the right arm, concussion, a possible fracture of the skull, and lacerations. A sailor on the cruiser ' Diomede, Arthur Standing, aged 22, while riding a motor cycle crashed into a car, sustaining a fracture of the leg. Owing to a tyre bursting, a motor cycle and sidecar overturned in the St. Hellers Bay Road on Saturday, the rider and passenger receiving Injuries to the head and concussion. The rider was Mr J. W. Sheddon who was accompanied by Miss Lucenda McCarthy.

Injuries to the 'bend were received by Mr George Taylor, aged 18, when a'motor cycle he was riding collided with a car.

A visitor to Auckland from Wellington, Mr John William Stanley Guntrlp, was admitted to the hospital yesterday suffering from a broken arm, received ns a result of a motor cycle accident. TWO DEATHS IN WELLINGTON. KNOCKED DOWN BY CABS. WELLINGTON, Sunday. A man, apparently about 55 years old. believed to be Frank Cnvanagh, was killed by a motor-car at the corner of Cuba Street and Clniznee Street this evening. Deceased was standing talking to a companion at the edge of the foot pal li when a motor-car, driven by Mr C. O. Evans, In endeavouring to avoid a motor-truck, swerved on to Hie footpath. The two men jumped aside, but deceased leaped in front, of the car and was killed almost outright. The ear struck a verandah post and the windscreen was shaUered, Mrs Evans, the wife of Hie. driver, being cut about the face by Hying glass. As Iho result of being knocked down by a car, Mr .1. Byrne, a widower, aged 03, died in hospital.

MOTOR-CYCLIST KILLED. COLLISION WITH A FOAL. OPOTIKI. Sunday. A fatal aeeldmil occurred on Hie. Waiooka Road on Salir’ay evening, the victim being a nmtor-eyelist. Mr Hugh Greonshlelds Stevenson, aged 23 of New Plymouth. Mr Stevenson's machine collided heavily with a foal which was running alongside a dray. The force of the im-

pact threw the animal and the rider of the motor-cycle to the side of the roadway. Mr Stevenson received grave injuries to the head, including a fracture of the skull, and was In an unconscious condition, dying later. The deceased had raced at, the Qpolikl sports on Boxing Day and at Gisborne bn New Year’s Day. lie was on his way home m New Plymouth whe- the accident occurred.