The Fatal Accident at Balfour.— Our Lumsden correspondent reports of the fatal accident which happened at Balfour on Saturday to Mr Angus Colquhoun Kay, of Longridge North, that the deceased was loading his dray with timber at the siding, when the team bolted. Mr Kay caught the reins and hung on to them, and while in this position some of the timber slipped off knocking him down, and a wheel of the dray passed over his body longitudinally. After the dray had cleared his body Mr Kay got up and walked into the shop of Mr Grant and asked if the occupants of a trap with which the dray had afterwards collided had been injured, and was told nothing serious had happened to them. It was thought desirable to get the injured man to the hotel and this was done, and there he expired about half an hour after the accident happened. Dr Bauchop arrived from Lumsden shortly after death took place and made an examination of the body. Finding no bones broken, his opinion was that death was mainly due to shock to the system. The deceased leaves a widow and four young children, for whom the greatest sympathy is felt in this, as in other parts of the district. He was a man widely known and highly respected for his uprightness and strict integrity. He was an elder of the Presbyterian Church, and by this body he will be sorely missed, as he always took his share of the work in the absence of the Rev. James Blackie, and, in conjunction with Mr McFetridge, kept the services going. I understand that for some time past he had ministered monthly in the Lumsden church, having to ride some six or seven miles each way to do so, but he never failed to be at his post. For many years past he had also held a prominent position on the local school committee. His untimely death cast a gloom over the whole district. I understand the remains will be interred in the Lumsden cemetery on Tuesday. -Southland Times, 27/4/1897.
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| Lumsden Cemetery. |
THE ROLL OF HONOUR
CASUALTY LIST No. 537. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, March .6.
The following list was issued to-night:
DIED OF WOUNDS.
(March 1st.) AUCKLAND INFANTRY. McKENZIE, F. (Murdock McKenzie, Whangarei Heads, lather).
DIED OF SICKNESS:
(March 2nd), MACHINE GUN CORPS. SMITH, D. L. (Matthew Smith, Ravensbourne, Dunedin, father).
PRIVATE S. A. KAY. Stanley Angus Kay, a Private in the 1st Auckland Machine Gun Company of the 8th Reinforcement and now reported to have been wounded and gassed on February 13, is the second and youngest son of Mrs and the late Mr A. C. Kay, of "Springvale,” Balfour. Private Kay, who is 23 years of age, was born at Longridge North and is an old boy of the Gore High School. He was farming before he rallied to the bugle of Empire. -Southland Times, 7/3/1917.
PERSONAL ITEMS.
Mr M. Foley, for some years clerk at the Magistrate’s Court at Masterton, and formerly of Gore, has been promoted to the clerkship of the Magistrate’s Court at Napier. Advice has been received from Sir James Allen, Minister for Defence, that Sergeant Stanley Angus Kay, (Balfour), No. 1 Machine Gun Company, has been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry on the field of action. Sergeant Kay left New Zealand as a trooper in the 8th Reinforcements, and, except for his furlough to Britain and absence through being wounded and gassed, has been on the battlefield in France ever since. -Mataura Ensign, 14/1/1918.
| Sergeant Stanley Angus Kay, Of Balfour, M.G.C, awarded Military Medal for gallantry in Passchendaele Battle. -Otago Witness, 6/3/1918.
THE LATE SERGEANT S. A. KAY, M.M.
We have been permitted to make a few extracts from letters received from the comrades of the late Sergt. Stanley Angus Kay, whose mother, Mrs A. C. Kay of Springvale, Balfour, was recently presented with the Military Medal won by her son in France by Sir James Allen, Defence Minister.
Of this gallant Southlander his Captain wrote: — "Sergt. Stanley A. Kay was killed in action on March 27, 1918. He, with his team-mates helping to storm the onrush of the Huns when he was struck by machinegun fire and killed instantly. His loss is much regretted by the officers and men of this company, as he was most popular with every member of the unit, cheerful under all conditions, and a fearless, brave soldier."
His platoon officer - writing shortly after his death, said: — "I knew him in Egypt before we crossed to France, and a better fellow-worker and helper I never wish to have. Stanley was a particular favourite with all the company, being always cheerful, full of fun and mischief yet withall, the bravest of the brave."
Another machine-gun officer wrote: — "Your boy was in my section for a long time. I knew him very well, both as a soldier and a friend, and without doubt he was one of the finest boys it has been my pleasure to know, always a perfect gentleman, and one of the most popular men in our company. In several actions where we fought together he proved himself a staunch fighter and a true friend on each occasion. He was killed fighting in the manner I knew he would be, like a perfect hero."
Sergt. Kay earned his decoration at Passchendaele, where he brought his two sub-section guns to their objective after his officer had been killed and all his gun crews with the exception of one man had become casualties. Only men who are conversant with the conditions which then obtained in that sector can fully appreciate what this effort must have cost them. Sergt Kay met his death on the Somme a year later, and in this connection one of his comrades wrote: — "Your son had charge of two guns of my section when we were rushed in to stay the onslaught of the Huns. I visited him on the night of the 26th, when he was in high spirits at the success of the whole section, distinguishing himself as he always did by his great leadership and coolness. On the morning of the 27th Stanley met his death instantaneously. We had lost a soldier and a gentleman, one admired by all, and a cross now marks the grave of one of the greatest of New Zealand's soldier sons." -Otago Witness, 9/7/1919.
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