SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1808, 27 October 1888, Page 3

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

Iktehcahgill, Oct. 25,

A lamentable accident happened this morning at Mataura Island, in the river of that name. A man named Andrew MeFarlane, a ploughing contractor residing at Edend&le, having got employment at Otara Dairy Factory near Fortrose, started with a two horse team for his location yesterday, taking with him his household effects, his wife and child, and his wife's brother and sister, together with a boy, who had been living with him. They reached the island in the afternoon, and crossed the main course of the river on the bridge. The other branch of the stream in ordinary circumstances is shallow and no bridge is provided, but the heavy rains had made it ' dangerous to cross, and Mr McFarlane, after trying the ford, remained on the island all night. Mr Spratt, a faamer there, advised him not to attempt to pursue his journey that way, but to return and cross the river at Wyndham bridge. MeFarlane demurred to the detour of twenty miles, and early this morning entered the i river at the ford. The team had only ! advanced a few yards when the wheel dropped into a hole. The dray swung round, and the occupants seated among the furniture, which was not secured, were swept into the river. The lad slipped out of the dray to a box on which he safely floated to a point about a quarter of a mile below, where he got ashore. The occurrence was not, seen by anyone from the banks, but as none of the other five occupants of the dray have been seen since, it is almost certain that all were drowned. The dray did not capsize, and the leader dragged it and the drowned shatter out of the river. None of the bodies have yet been recovered.