HORSE AND CART OVER A CLIFF. A Narrow Escape. (From the Auckland " Star," Jan. 4.)

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 32, 12 January 1884, Page 4

HORSE AND CART OVER A CLIFF. A Narrow Escape. (From the Auckland " Star," Jan. 4.)

A serious accident occurred at the cliff at the end of Selwyn Terrace, Parnell, yesterday afternoon. The covered cart belonging to Mr Johnston, baker, Parnell, had been left standing on the road while the driver was making his rounds, when the horse started off, and getting on the incline overhanging the steps leading down to the beach, began to slip downwards at a pace accelerating every moment. The slope ends abruptly near an elbow in the stairs, with a fall of six feet, down which the horse went head foremost on to the steps below, the cart going clean over him with a momentum that threw it over the fence at the other side of the stairs. Miss Bond, a relative of Mr H. P. Barber, of Parnell, was standing upon the lower flight of steps, near their junction with the flight above the angle, and the cart struck her a violent blow on the side of the head and upper part of the body. Fortunately, the weight of the horse lying on the upper steps kept the cart from going any further, or it might have rolled over the edge of the lower steps and fallen a distance of about twenty feet on to some children and girls bathing on the beach. As it was, loaves of bread were thrown out of the door of the cart, and fell in among the bathers. The shafts of the vehicle were broken, also the rail round the top, but the traces held ; and the driver, on arriving, cut away the harness, freeing the horse, which seemed very little injured, and was able to continue its rounds. The cai't dropped on the lower steps, and was afterwards removed. Miss Bond's escape is most miraculous. The cart came right on the top of hor, bruising her considerably about the head and shoulders, and inflicting a terrible shock generally, the full effects of which are not yet known. She had gone on to the steps to call the children, and was ongaged summoning them when the accident happened. Attention was called to the occurrence by Mr Winks at the meeting of the Borough Council last night, when the Foreman of Works was instructed to have the top of the cliff fenced at once. We have received the following letter from the driver of the cart: — " Sir,— Regarding the accident in Selwyn Terrace, being the carter in question, I beg to contradict the report given in the 'Herald.' The facts of the case stand briefly thus : Whiie serving my usual customers on the beach of St. George's Bay, it is my habit always to leave my cart in Selwyn Terrace, with the wheel chained. On returning yesterday I met the horse coming, and caught him on the top of the Terrace and endeavoured to stop him, but the cart being loaded, and on the incline, I was unable to do so; hence the accident. With regard to my watching the bathers, I give that a flat contradiction. When I am on the beach I cannot help seeing them, as I pass quite close to them ; neither have any of the bathers remonstrated with me. I have plenty to do without looking at children and girls bathing, nor am I aware that bathing on the beach is allowable. Apologising for intruding on yqur valuable space, 1 am, &c, Wm. Thorne."