THE CANTERBURY ROAD PARTY DROWNED IN LAKE BRUNNER.

Press, Volume III, Issue 264, 4 September 1863, Page 2

THE CANTERBURY ROAD PARTY DROWNED IN LAKE BRUNNER.

By the arrival of the Lady Bird we have received an Extra of the Nelson Examiner of the 20th ultimo, which gives the following melancholy account of the loss of Mr. Howitt and two of his men in Lake Brunner. In reply to a question in the Provincial Council last night the Provincial Secretary stated that he had heard the report that Mr. Howitt and two of his men were missing, but that he hoped they might yet be heard of. From the following account, however, we fear that there ai*e but small grounds for hope. "By the schooner Mary, which arrived this morning from the Bullei , , a man named James Belgrave Hammett came up as a passenger. Hammett, with five other men, left Christchnrch on the let January last, under the direction of Mr. CiU'letoii Howitt, who had been employed by the Canterbury Government to cut a track from tne Hurunui to the West Coast. Two of the men

left the party, and returned to town, but Mr.

i Howitt, Haruniett, and two men named Robert Little and Henry Mullis, proceeded with their task. ' Some time in Juno, Mr. Howitt, accompanied by Mullis and Little, left their camp on the shore of Lake Brunner in a canoe to fish for eels, and were never afterwards seen by their companion, although he searched the shores for nearly a fortnight. Finding himself alone, Hammett made his way to the coast, where lie met with a man named Johnson, and the two together proceeded to walk from the Grey to the Biiller, by the coast. Johnson reached the 13tiller with greet

difficulty, after living several days on raw woodj hens, but Haminett was unable to accomplish the journey, and knocked up on the road. A party iof mn>. from the Buller most kindly volunteered ! to go iv search of this poor man, whom they found ! with great difficulty, in a frightfully exhausted • st-.ite, and succeeded iv bringing him eafely back ; with them. Kainmett, who is bow on his wav I back to Canterbury, has kindly placed his journal ;in our hands, and wo shall aiake use of it in our nest number. There can be but little doubt, we fear, but that Mr. Howitt and his two companions , wt-ro drowned in Late Brunner. Mr. Howitt J was a brother of the Australian explorer who I went out in search of Burke, and a son, we I believe, of William and Mary Howitt," j