YOUNG MAORI BOY STRUCK BY CAN OF WHEY AND KILLED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 43, 19 January 1949, Page 5

YOUNG MAORI BOY STRUCK BY CAN OF WHEY AND KILLED

Serious Accident On Ruatoki Road A young Maori boy was killed instantly at Ruatoki on Monday when a 16 gallon can of whey fell on the back of his head,' after he had fallen from the back of a horse and cart. He was : Wakamaru Herewini, aged 11 years, son of Mr and Mrs Tukuonaru Herewini, Ruatoki. The accident occurred on the road just behind the Ruatoki dairy factory at about 9.30 a.m. The boy was sitting on the cart with his sister, both eating ice cream and dangling their legs from the back. The horse, which was being driven by Mrs Margaret Taipeti, Ruatoki, apparently took fright at something and shied off the road. Mrs Taipeti managed to bring it back onto the road but as she did so the wheels of the cart struck a small ditch. The boy and his sister were both knocked off, the girl falling into long grass beside the road while the boy. fell onto the road. The cart was just returning from the factory and had a load of whey on the back. One of the cans tipped off the back and fell, striking the boy on the back of the head, hitting it against the road and splitting the skull. Mrs Taipeti' heard the crash and turned to see the can lying along side the boy. When she reached him he was dead. The girl was uninjured. An inquest was opened at Whakatane yesterday for the purpose of identification before Mr C. Armstrong,. J.P.