MOTOR TRAGEDIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 April 1939, Page 4

MOTOR TRAGEDIES

COLLISION NEAR HUNTLY THREE PEOPLE KILLED. FIVE OTHERS SENT TO HOSPITAL. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, April 9. Three people were killed and five were injured in a collision between two motor-cars on the Main South Road, about two miles north of Ohinewai, near Huntly, at 4.30 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Two of those who died were a Wellington man and his wife, and the third was a young woman who was engaged to their son. who received head and arm injuries. The victims were: Killed. John Staples, aged 60, boot manufacturer, of 15 Mana Street, Vogcltown, Wellington. Mrs Florence Staples, aged 48, wife of Mr Staples. Miss Frances Carnegie, aged 22, daughter of Mr David Carnegie, of 98 Farnham Street, Mornington, Wellington. Injured. Arthur Staples, aged 24, tramcar body builder, son of Mr and Mrs Staples; head and arm injuries, condition not serious. Miss Myra Clark, aged 18, daughter of Mr Joseph Clark, of Te Puke, shock and minor abrasions, condition not serious. Miss Natalie Clark, aged 16, sister of Miss Myra Clark, concussion, broken nose and shock, condition not serious. Lewis Appleton, aged 24, single, carrying contractor, of Pongakawa; fractured right arm, and abrasions, condition not serious. Charles Henry Reid, aged 25, lorrydriver, of Matata, abrasions to the face. Mr Reid was discharged from hospital this evening. With their son and his fiancee, Mr and Mrs Staples had been spending a motoring holiday in Rotorua and Auckland, and were on their way back toward Wellington. They occupied a light four-seater car driven by Mr Arthur Staples, who had Miss Carnegie alongside him in the front seat. The other car, which was bought only yesterday morning by Mr Appleton and was being driven by him, was a heavy three-seater coupe. The Misses Clark and Reid accompanied Mr Appleton. Mr Staples’s car had reached the southern boundary of the Ohinewai estate and was at a corner where a side road crosses the railway line when Mr Appleton’s car came round a slight bend from the opposite direction. The cars collided with a terrific impact. The small car had its front righthand wheel torn off, and the bodywork on the right-hand side was sliced away. The front portion of the larger car was considerably twisted, and the righthand wheel and the windscreen were shattered. The windscreen support of the small car pierced Miss Carnegie’s head, and she was killed instantly. Others in the collision received medical attention from two doctors and two nurses, and were then taken to the Waikato Hospital by ambulance. Mr and Mrs Staples died within half an hour of each other early this morning. Arthur Staples and the four persons from the coupe were reported to have passed a comfortable night, and their condition was said tonight to be improving. An inquest was opened this afternoon in Huntly, and was adjourned. CAR CRASHES INTO FENCE. MARRIED MAN LOSES LIFE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, April 9. One man was killed when a car in which he was a passenger left the road in foggy weather and crashed into a fence near Mokauiti, 20 miles from Te Kuiti, last night. The four other occupants of the car escaped injury. The man killed was Horace Hartley Hedges, aged 49, married, who was employed on the potato farm development scheme. The party was returning from a meeting in Mokauiti to the farm camp. There was a heavy fog at the time and the road is dangerous. When the car left the road it came to rest against a a fence. Mr Hedges was crushed against a post. A WOMAN’S DEATH. CAR ROLLS DOWN BANK. 'By Telegraph—Press Association i AUCKLAND, April 9. A woman was killed and a four-month’s-old child which she was holding in her arms escaped injury when the car in which they were travelling left the road and rolled down a 50foot bank above Whakatane, on the Ohope Road, today. The victim was, Mrs Ivy Gladys O’Brien, aged 41, wife of Mr Leslie O’Brien, sharemilker, Otakiri. Josephine O'Brien, aged 13, had an arm broken. The party was returning from Ohope Beach, driven by Geffrey O’Brien, aged 16. He drew out to the edge of the road to pass another car, but the car went over the bank. The car was badly damaged.