LETTER TO POLICE

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 118, 21 May 1934, Page 11

LETTER TO POLICE

MOTORIST MISSING. CAR FOUND ON RIVER BANK. REFERENCES TO AN ACCIDENT. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Mr. Stuart Leslie Rutherford, of Leslie Hills station, Wairau, has been missing since Saturday morning, when a .car he was driving was found on the northern bank of the Waimakariri River, near the bridge on the main north road.

The superintendent of police ut Christchurch received a letter on Saturday from Mr. Rutherford stating he was afraid ho had struck a cyclist on Thursday evening while driving his car on Marshlands Hoad, and that he could not face the consequences. Pinned to the letter was a clipping from a newspaper with an account of the accident. Mr. Rutherford indicated in the letter that his body might be found in the Waimakariri River. The current at the bridge is strong, and the river at present is very muddy. The police have been searching for the body ever since, but without success. Probably it would have been carried out to sea. The search was continued to-day. Police parties patrolled the Waimakariri River all morning. The victim of the accident to which Mr. Rutherford's letter referred was Mr. J. Anstey, a relief worker, of Linwood. While cycling home from work on Thursday evening Mr. Anstey was knocked down by a motorist who did not stop. An account of the accident was given in the evening papers on Friday, with an announcement that the police were investigating to discover the driver of the car. Mr. Anstey suffered head and shoulder injuries, but is now improving.