FOUND ON THE SAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 58, 9 March 1923, Page 3

FOUND ON THE SAND.

BODY OF BABY BOY. COROXIAL FINDING. - "That death was due to asphyxiation following suffocation, there being no evidence to show how suffocation was caused." was the verdict of the coroner, Air. W. R. McKean, S.M., this morning, after hearing evidence at an inquest touching the death of an infant child found on the sand on the Stanley Bay beach on February 19. The discovery was ma<le by two school boys, at about three o'clock on the afternoon of that day. Constable Hedland was summoned, and. he was shown the body of a newly-born male child on the beach, between liigtli and low water marks. It was lying on its left side, with the face towards the incoming tide. l"n----elothed, the body was partly embedded in the sand. Recent blood was oozing from the nose. The body was cold, and rigor mortis had not set in. There was a ragged wound on the left eide of the mouth. Special inquiries had been made to ascertain the parentage of the child, said the and also with reference to the disposal of the body and the person responsible, but no evidence bad resulted.

Dr. l>. ~S. VT. Murray said the body was that of a well-developed male ehilrl, weighing 01b Oozs. There were no marks on the skin to indicate violence. Tire infant had reached full-time, and had breatJied freely. It had lived less than 48 hours, and probably less .than 24 hours. When found, it had not been dead more than 24 hour*, and had been immersed in water only a. short time, if at all. , . The. cause of death, said the doctor, was asphyxia, probably due to suffocation.