WOMAN DROWNED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 16, 20 January 1933, Page 12

WOMAN DROWNED.

FATALITY AT PIHA. VISITOR PROM ENGLAND. A'visitor from England, Mrs. E. M. Miles, aged 49, who had been staying with her sister, Mrs. A. E. Woods, at Birkenhead, Auckland, was drowned at Piha Beach, West Coast, about 1.30 yesterday'afternoon." Her body was recovered by three plucky youths twenty minutes after' the fatality had occurred. Mrs. Mhes arrived with lier sister at Piha in the morning in a car driven by a friend, Miss B. Taylor, of RemuerA. Some time after arrival Mrs. Miles and Miss Taylor went bathing, and before long the former got into difficulties, having gone out beyond her depth. Neither of the ladies was a good swimmer and Miss Taylor could do nothing to save her, being herself washed off her feet. The fatality happened near the rocks, where a big sea was running in. Miss Taylor ran up tlit/ beach for help, but could see no one about. In a few minutes she met some boys, who rushed down to the beach and were just in time to see : Mrs. Miles disappear. It was five minutes before Mrs. Miles came to the surface again: The youths swam out and succeeded in bringing the body ashore, one of the boys getting severely scratched on the rocks in the attempt. Dr. J. H. H. Wood was on the scene almost at once and applied artificial respiration, but to no avail.

Mrs. Miles was the wife of a prominent turf agent in Birmingham. She had not-been long in New Zealand. An inquest.was held later in the afternoon before Mr. F. K. Hunt, coroner, who is spending a holiday at Piha, Constable Rushton, who had arrived from Henderson, conducted the inquiry for the police. Mr. Hunt returned a verdict of accidental ■ drowning. He added: "With improved roads, the West Coast beaches are now much freer of access to people froto the city. Many visitors enter the water without any knowledge of the dangers of surf-bathing. Notice boards should be erected on the beaches warning bathers of possible danger, and provision should be made for life-saving appliances." The coroner commended the action of the three youths who recovered the body.