THE DROWNING FATALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 195, 16 August 1895, Page 3

THE DROWNING FATALITY.

DEATH OF A TAJELANAKI SETTLER.

The fatal boating accident which we reported in our yesterday's issue, resulted in tho death of a Taranaki settler, Mr John Wall. Mr Wall was a brothor-in-law of Mr Searing H. MatbhetsF, of this city, and had recently come up from Taranaki, where he had beau living for some yeara past. He leaves a wife and family in Taranaki, and has four sisters in Auckland, two of them being Mesdames William Upton and S. H. Matthews.

Mr Wall had been staying with Mr Matthews in Ponsonby Bince his arrival from Taranaki. Yesterday morning he and his cousin, Mr Fred Williams, of Cook-street, hired a boat from Mr Barton, Ponsonby, ab ten o'clock in order to go up the harbour to inspect Mr Maxwell's farm near Henderson's Creek, with a view to purchasing ib. Mrs Williams was to have accompanied them, but, fortunately, did nob go.

When the two men were between the beacon opposibo Chelsea and the Sugar Works they were aboub to eeb the sail, when the halliards fouled. Wall stood up and partly climbed up the masb to clear them. Hia weight overturned the boat, and the men were thrown into the water.

The men held on to the boat, being unable to righb her, Williams endeavouring to pet Wall on the boat as he was weak in the chesb, suffering from asthma, but the boat kept roiling and he got washed off.

Wall at last dropped oli exhausted with cold and the exertion of hole ing on to the boat. Williams supported himsoif with ono of the oars, and floated about sometime with the boat, until at last ho was seen from the Sugar Works and rescued. / Williams was taken into one of the houses at the Sugar Works and put to bed, and restoratives used. In the afternoon ho was able to return to his home. He was almost unconscious when rescued, and in a few minutes more must have been drowned.

Mr Wall was a son of Mrs Eliza Wall, who resides in Poneonby, and was about forty years of age. The water poWce dragged for Wall's body off Chelsea yesterday afternoon, but owing to the very sbrong current running they had to abandon dragging and return to town. They wenb up again to-day, bub it is expected that the body has been carried a long distance by the tide'and current.