MOTOR FALLS THROUGH BRIDGE

Hokitika Guardian, 17 May 1930, Page 5

MOTOR FALLS THROUGH BRIDGE

YOUNG MAN DROWNED

* (By Telegraph—Press Association).

WAIPUKURAU, Afay 16

A fatal accident occured late this iV'.ternoon on Mataretu Road. three men employed in a line party by the 'ost and Telegraph Department of Waipukurua were proceeding along the road, and when negotiating a bridge over the Tukituki River the steering gear apparently failed, precipitating ..heir Morris motor lorry tliroilgh the structure into the river, a distance, of twelve feet, and pinning Spotswood by the body. The cause of death was apparently drowning. The body was recovered.

The other occupants of the lorry Claude Page (aged 44, married) and Robert Stabler (aged 20, single,) residents of Waipukurau, escaped. The former sustained laceration of the head, bruises and shock. Stabler sustained severe lacerations to the right leg, necessitating stitches. They were admitted to Waipukurau Hospital Both men struggled from the upturned vehicle from the river, and made heroic efforts to lift the vehicle but unsuccessfully. Page, although suffering severely, walked some chains to a settler’s residence and advised (he police, a doctor, and postal officials.

The ifiother of the deceased lost one son in a motor accident, and then her husband died, and now the second son has been killed within eighteen months.