GIRL’S DEATH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 August 1938, Page 8

GIRL’S DEATH

(Continued from page 7.) “I heard the late Miss Ireland scream just before the car from the north passed,” added the witness. To Mr Siddells witness said he could not say whether the girls were walking on the bitumen or the gravel. J. B. Johns said that as he was about to leave Mr Hall’s residence he saw Page’s car approaching and pulled up to let it pass. “My lights,” he said, “showed up the legs of the girls, who were hard to pick up on account of their clothing. As Page’s car passed I moved to the gate and then another car passed from the north. I did not know there had been an accident until Page stopped me.” He estimated that Page stopped about two chains from the scene of the accident well on correct side of the road. He thought Page was travelling at abotft 35 miles an hour when he passed the gate. He considered that Page would naturally be looking to the left to .see if witness was coming out of the gate or not. Constable B. Watson said there was no broken glass or anything on the road to show where the point of impact was. With the aid of the headlights of several cars, however, he noticed a brake burn near where the accident happened and he took that mark to be the point of impact. The brake burn was 2ft 6in in on the west side of the bitumen and it extended for a distance of 33ft in a north-easterly direction. From the start of the brake burn to where the body was found was 19ft. At first he could not find any marks on Page’s car, not even a dent in the mudguard but later he discovered hair on. the top of the left rear door hinge. There were no other mark’s on the car. The brakes on Page's car were in first-class order and his headlights were good. The driver of the car was absolutely sober. To Mr Siddells, witness said that the brake burn indicated that the driver had made a very serious attempt to swerve to the right. To Mr Taverner witness said there were no actual marks to show the point of impact. He did not think the brake burn indicated excessive speed. Douglas Walter Page, the driver of the car involved, said he was travelling at about 40 miles an hour passing the Taratahi Hotel. There was a fair amount of traffic about and when he saw two cars approaching him he dimmed his lights and slackened speed. “My attention,” he added, “was attracted to a vehicle on the left that seemed to be coming out on to the road. " When I came abreast of the vehicle on the left I seemed to enter a flood of light and then experienced a patch of blackness. It was then that I saw the figures loom up about fifteen feet in front of me. The first thing that I did was to swerve sharply to the right to avoid the girls. I thought I had missed'them until I felt a bump at the rear. As far as I can remember I passed a car just before the point of impact.” To Mr Taverner witness- said he did not brake until after he swerved. In reply to Mr Siddells, witness said that had he braked it would have accentuated the swerve and he would probably have knocked down both of the'girls. The other approaching cars did not dip their lights and had his not been dimmed it was quite possible that he . would have seen the girls earlier.

Mr Eton then returned a verdict as stated above and expressed the sympathy of the Court to the relatives.