PERILS OF A SETTLER S LIFE “OUT BACK.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 464, 6 July 1909, Page 4

PERILS OF A SETTLER S LIFE “OUT BACK.”

SUCCOURING AN INJURED MAN. Auckland, June 30. A story of how a man’s life was saved comes from Tatu, in the Ohura Valley. A settler named John Gilmore was felling timber on his section, when a large limb came down from the tree; next to the one he was chopping* and knocked him to the ground. His mate close by, missing sight of him, came over and found him stretched out face downwards. On lilting Gilmore up he discovered that he had sustained a large scalp wound. Assistance was secured from the camp, and a message sent to a doctor through the recentlycompleted telephone to Mangaroa. A track had to be cut through the scrub to the camp, a quarter of a mile away, and by the time the injured man had been conveyed thither, Dr. G. Hamilton Rowlands arrived, having traversed the ten miles of exceedingly bad road in an hour and a half. By this time it was dark. Chloroform was administered, and an examination revealed a scalp wound seven inches long, and a compound depressed fracture of the skull, the bone being driven into the brain substance. The membranes of the brain were torn, and two pieces of brain the size of a marble protruded on the surface of the wound, and were removed, together with two loose fragments of bone. Dr. Rowlands performed the difficult operation by candlelight, not even a lamp being obtainable. The following morning Dr. Rowlands had Gilmore removed to his own residence at Mangaroa by hand litter, the roads being impassable to vehicles. A large party of Tatu settlers met and undertook the laborious task of conveying Gilmore to Mangaroa through ten miles of bog and quagmire that serve for roads in the district. A party from Mangaroa met them and shared the fatigue of carrying the stretcher. The doctor’s house was reached in six hours. Gilmore bore the journey well, and was quite conscious at the end of It. The latest news to hand is to the effect that Gilmore is progressing satisfactorily and there is every hope of his recovery.