MOTOR ACCIDENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 December 1917, Page 6

MOTOR ACCIDENT.

CHILD FATALLY INJURED AT . JUNCTION ROAD. An accident occurred on the Junction road about U o'clock yesterday morning, whereby a child named Harry Hancock, about three years of age, a son of Mr. Humphrey £. Hancock, farm manager, of Junction road, received injuries to/which he succumbed in a short time. It appears, that the deceased, in company with an elder '.brother, had been =ont by his mother to a neighbors., The two boys were walking along the roadway when a motor car, proceeding in the same direction as the. children, came along the, road travelling towards New Plymouth. The driver of the car, Samuel A. J. Paynter, of Tarata, states that he raw the boys and, when some disance from them, .ounded the horn of his car, and the children separated, the elder boy going to one side of the road and tho younger to the opposite side. At the time tho ear was said to be travelling at about 15 miles an hour. Just as the car readied the spot at which the boys were, the younger child attempted to cross the road, evidently with the idea of joining his brother". The front of the ear struck the child and the ear passed over his body, though it, is thought that the wheels' did not touch the body. The ear was promptly pulled ui) and Mr. Paynter .picked up the... boy and removed him to the roadside. „ The child appeared to he unconscious. The driver of the car whistled to a man working in a field, by the roadside who proved to be the father of the injured child. It was at once decided to bring the unfortunate boy in to Dr. Blaeklev's rooms, but'on arrival there the doctor ordered tho hoy's removal to the hospital, where lie died at about 11.30, the cause of death being, it is believed, a fracture of the base of the, skull. ■ . There were in th<* car with Mr. Paynter at tho time ojithe accident his wife | and brother, Mr. Sidney Paynter, and [the latter's wife.

An inquest wa<s opened yesterday afternoon before the district coroner (Mr A. Crooke, S.M.). After Evidence of identification had been given by the father of the child, the enquiry was adjourned sine die.