HAKATERE FATALITY.
AN ACCIDENTAL OCCURRENCE.
The inquest into the circumstances of the death of Mr Duncan Henry Gordon, aged 22, who met his death on Hakatere Station on Friday, was held at Hakatere on (Saturday afternoon, before Mr Stanley Smith, J.P. (Acting-Coroner), and a jury of which Mr C. C. Burdon was foreman. Constable Orchard, of Methven, represented the police.
Evidence of identification was given by James Cordon (brother of deceased).
S. M. A. Chaffey (manager of Hakatere Station) gave evidence that deceased was one of a party of musterers and was in good health. He knew the danger of falling rocks after sheep had passed over a face.
William Hood, a fellow-musterer, gave evidence that deceased was mustering round a rocky face between five and ten chains from witness, when he noticed a large rock bounding down the hill above Gordon. He called a warning. Deceased ran forward, the rock passing behind him, and at the same moment another piece of splintered rock flew through the air, striking deceased. Witness immediately ran to deceased’s aid, and later called the attention of the rest of the party that an accident had happened.
Dr W. H. McKee gave evidence that the cause of death was a fracture of the skull.
The jury returned a verdict that deceased was accidentally killed. All care had been taken, and no blame was attachable to anyone. The jury added a rider commending the prompt and efficient efforts of deceased’s fellow workers in bringing in the body over such difficult country. -Ashburton Guardian, 8/4/1929.
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