MAHOENUI COACH ACCIDENT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 460, 27 April 1912, Page 5

MAHOENUI COACH ACCIDENT.

A WONDERFUL ESCAPE,

BAD ROADS CAUSE TROUBLE,

A serious accident happened to Mr H. E. Lewis' Mahoenui coach on its way to Te Kuiti on Thusday afternoon. The coach was carrying eight passengers, one of which was a lady named Mrs J. Cleaver. At the ninemile peg while negotiating a bad rut the pole broke with the result that the horses bolted. They carreered along madly for about half a mile, the driver, Mr H. Nash, sticking to them pluckily, until a sharp corner was come to. Being unable to swing round this corner, the horses ran over the bank ten feet high, dragging'the coach after them, which tipped down the bank. By this time a few of the male passengers who recognised the seriousness of the position had jumped out. A boy named Knox was the only one who received any injury. He was found underneath the coach, but by some marvellous protection was only slightly injured. Mrs Cleaver and three others were in the coach at the time of the mishap, and escaped unhurt. The boy Knox was brought on to Te Kiuti immediately for medical treatment by Dr Zobel, who ascertained that the lad was only slightly bruised, and was principally suffering from shock.

Mrs Cleaver and others speak highly of the pluck of the driver, who never on one occasion lost his head, and in a couple of instances saved them from what might have been a very serious accident. The driver, on being questioned by a reporter, attributed the accident to the bad state of the road. He was aware of the bad rut at the point where the accident occurred, and was negotiating it as carefully as possible. In the accident the top of the coach was completely smashed but otherwise very little damage was done.