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Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 153, 10 April 1930, Page 5

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OLD LADY'S DEATH

WESTLAND FATALITY RECALLED, (United Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, Anril 8. The death has occurred of Miss Margaret Howitt, aged 90, authoress, and sister of the pioneer, Alfred Charleton Howitt, who discovered the remains of the Australian explorers, Burke and Wills. Mr Howitt was drowned while taking part in an expedition to Lake Brunner, New Zealand.

The death of Mr Charleton Howitt occurred in 1863. He had been engaged in cutting a foot track over the Teremakau Saddle on the West Coast. A rough blazed line bad been cut a* far as Lake Brunner, and the party was engaged in cutting lines around the lake, intending to continue the track down the Arnold River to the Grey River. Mr A. Dudley Dobson, who is now residing in Christehurch, was given the task of surveying that portion of the West Coast, and his vessel, in which h« sailed from Nelson, was wrecked nt the mouth of the Grey River on September 13, 1863. The first news that Mr Dobson received when he got ashore from the residents in that portion of the Coast—three Europeans—was that Mr Howitt's party, with the exception of one "man, had been drowned in Lake Brunner. The party bad gone eeling and the craft had capsized. The survivor made a raft and spent two days in searching for his comrades. Then he made his way alone down to the coast and reported the disaster. It was a year after this that Mr Dobson discovered Arthur's Pass, which was named after him. Mr Howitt had, in 1861, discovered the remains of Burke and Wills, the two Australian explorers who died when attempting to explore the Gulf of Carpentaria, by an overland route from Melbourne. He found the solo survivor of the party, King, and after bringing him back to Melbourne, went out and brought back the bodies of Burke and Wills, reaching Adelaide in December, 1862.