STRUCK DUMB.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 306, 28 December 1931, Page 8

STRUCK DUMB.

SHOCK OF A DISCOVERT.

SECRET' TAKEN TO THE GRAVE.

A secret has been taken to the grave, because immediately on discovering it, one man, now dead, lost his power of speech and because the only other who shared it is also dead.

Involved in this strange drama were the late Mr. C. F. Lewis, assistant education officer at Erith, against whom a verdict of murder was given at the Kentish garden tragedy inquest, and the late Mr. A. T. Flux, the chief education officer.

Investigations into Mr. Lewis's affairs have revealed a discrepancy of between £500 and £600, in the accounts of the Kent Education Committee and the Erith Education Committee.

| Mr. Flux died a few years ago after a seizure at his office, and certain irregularities in connection with the accounts were discovered then, but although at the time of the seizure Mr. Flux was engaged in an angry discussion with his assistant, no suspicion fell on Mr. Lewis. The attack in the office deprived Mr. Flux of his power of speech. He lived for some months, but never spoke again. It is now believed that certain discoveries which Mr. Flux made in connection with the accounts led to the secret quarrel. This belief is strengthened by the fact that the discrepancies continued up to the time of the disappearance of Mr. Lewis.

He vanished following the discovery of the bodies of his wife and adopted daughter buried in the garden of their home. At the inquest the police said they had no doubt that Mr. Lewis was the man who was seen to leap overboard from a steamer into the Jfaftll Sea.