FORTY YEARS AGO

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3280, 25 June 1943, Page 6

FORTY YEARS AGO

CRITICISM OF THE COUNTY FOUR TRUCKS RUN AWAY ACCIDENT AT KOMATA MINE (From the Ohinemuri Gazette of June 25, 1903.) A correspondent writes as follows ; —The Ohinemuri County Council will, if they do not alter their ways, die of enlargement of the heart. The manner in which metal is being spread in Normanby road is certainly not conducive to good road making, and all over the Paeroa township the roads are simply disgraceful. It is about time that something was done to improve matters, for we are unquestionably drifting back to the old order of things. Yesterday afternoon an accident happened at Komata which caused some little excitement. It appears that while four trucks laden with quartz were being taken along the tramline, the trucks got too much way on and dashed along the line at at tremendous pace. Two horses belonging to Mr Davis, which happened to be crossing the line, were dashed into and killed. The horses were thrown over the bank into the river, a drop of some 35 feet; the trucks and quartz were also thrown over, and the railing for some considerable distance was torn up. ’Luckily the man who had charge of the trucks slipped off and escaped unhurt.