Maori's Death When Struck By Train

Chronicle (Levin), 21 May 1948, Page 4

Maori's Death When Struck By Train

| That Wi lyiaki Raroa, Maori I labourer, aged 36, died as the re1 sult of injuries received when he I was struck by the Field's express I near Makerua on February 20 was \ the finding of the -district coroner, | Mr. J. S. Moir, when the inquest i was held in Levin on Wednesday. [ The accident occuirred at about I 8.50 p.m. on a deserted stretch of | the Main Trunk railway line, and [ the fact that a person had been l struck was not established until | the train reached Palmerston j North, when an inspection of the [ engine reveale'd a portion of a I man's bloodstained smglet adhering to it. The fireman on the train, ! Charles Douglas Forster Davidson, said that the train was running on | time and had left the Makerua Station at 8.49 p.m. Shortly after | leaving the station, he had noticed j a cloud of dust and gravel flying | up on the 'left srde of the engine ■ indicating that something had been & struck. After the train had [. 'travelled about 400 yards, someI thing appeared to rall off. He I thought they must have run over ? a sheep or some animal. I At Tokomaru he and the engine i driver had inspected the front of | the engine and found bloodstains. 1 ,On arrival at Palmerston North a I fsinglet had been found under- | , neath the engine. ! The driver of the engine, AlexI |ander Kinlock Carruthers, said the i train would have been travelling at [ about 30 m.p.h. and the head'lights I were full on, and were in good | order. He heard a shower of gravel | jstrike the under portion of the | ! engine as was the usual indication I 1 when an animal was struck. VlsiI ■ bility was good and the truck was I jstraight. At Palmerston North the r engine was taken to the sheds and | inspected, and the singlet dis1 covere'd. • ' | Constable .B. Wat'son, of Shan- | non, said that he had seen a Maori, = who was a stranger to him, in tne f locality .in the afternoon. He had l showed signs of having consumed | iliquor. As a resuit of a 'phone call | he had examined the line and re- | covered the body. He considered ir I to be that of the^man he had seen ! , earlier. The body was badly I 'mutilated. His identity was later | definitely established by a finger- [ pfint test. | I "The evidence is very clear," said l ;Mr. Moir, "and I would like to give [i credit to the police for the pains they took to establish the identity . of this poor man." He then issued his finding as above.