28 NOVEMBER 1952, Page 16

Zbe iopectator, Robentber 27th, 1852.

FOUR persons have perished at Walton-on-Thames, by an accident arising from the flooded state of the country: Lilley, a labourer employed at App's Court Farm, lived in a cottage not far distant; but to reach it he had to cross a moat filled with water which surrounds the farm: ordinarily there is a passage by means of an embankment intersecting the moat, but on Saturday the path was under water. Lilley, his wife, and a girl and boy, had been at work on the farm; at five o'clock they set out to return home, but the man went to the stables for a short time. Mrs. Lilley and her children reached the moat; the vessel that was to be employed as a boat to ferry them over was a beer-cooler, seven feet long, four wide, and. only seven inches deep. While the family were waiting for the father, Jarvis, a shepherd, offered to ferry them across. The four entered the beer-cooler, and Jarvis used a long pole to push it along. - Suddenly the people were seen struggling in the water, and the cooler was full of water.. Assistance was obtained, and the bodies recovered; but life was extinct.