ACCIDENTS & DEATHS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 80, 16 January 1936, Page 6

ACCIDENTS & DEATHS.

FOUND DEAD IN LIFT WELL. BEAD OF NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND. (Per Press Association). WELLINGTON, January 15. After being missed since the lunch hour on Tuesday, Mr Robert Witlieford (superintendent of the National Provident Fund and Registrar of Friendly Societies), was found dead to-night at the bottom of the lift well in the Dominion Farmers' Institute building, on the second floor of which his office was situated. It is assumed that he accidentally fell down the shaft from an upper floor about the time he was missed. Mr Witheford was last seen near Lambton Quay between 1.30 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesday. At the request of the police, 2YA to-day broadcast an announcement" that he was missing. About 6.45 p.m. to-night Mivß. C. Jack, a company secretary and a tenant of the Dominion Farmers' Institute, found the body at the bottom of the passenger lift well. The police, who were informed, had the power to the lift switche'd off and removed the body. Mr Witheford, whose age was 59, leaves a widow and one son. He was born at Auckland and educated at Queen's College. After four years in the employ of the Bank of New Zealand as ledgerkeeper, he joined the Treasury Department in 1901. He opened the first district Treasury office in Auckland in 1920. In 1926 he was transferred to the department in which he held his last position. He served in both the South African and the Great War.