SMALL BOY DROWNED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 38, 15 February 1943, Page 4

SMALL BOY DROWNED

WHANGAREI, Sunday. A drowning accident occurred on the upper reaches of the Hatea River, Wharigarei, yesterday afternoon. The victim was: Alexander Geoffrey Saunders, aged four vears nine months, the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Saunders, of Pompallier Street, Whangarei. The boy fell out of a punt in which his three-year-old brother was found unharmed. An inquest was opened this morning. Mr. Saunders, a Public Works employee, said that while his wife was in hospital three of his four children were staving with their grandmother, Mrs. A. R. Pickmere, and their aunt, Miss K. Pickmere. They were forbidden to go to the river and had not ventured there previously. ~ , , A verdict of accidental drowning was returned. The district coroner, Mr. J. G. Draper, expressed deep sympathy with the relatives of the boy. He said that special commendation was due to Mr. W. L. F. Sirl, who recovered the body and applied artificial respiration with a V.A.D. nurse until the arrival of a doctor.