DROWNING TRAGEDY

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20988, 17 October 1933, Page 10

DROWNING TRAGEDY

STEAMER LEAVES FOR CAPE MARIA VAN DIEMEN irnr.ss association telegram.) WELLINGTON, October 15. The Government steamer Matai left Wellington at 10.45 this morning for the Cape Maria van Diemen lighthouse, carrying two temporary keepers. It is expected to arrive at the cape at daybreak on Wednesday, and it will bring back Mrs Minnie Elizabeth Newson's body and also that of Frederick Gage, if it is recovered. The Marine Department advises that Gage leaves a widow and two young children and that the Newsons had no family. Mrs Newson, wife of one of the assistant lighthouse keepers, and Gage, second assistant keeper, were fishing from the rocks with Mr Newson. High seas had been running for several days, and cross-currents in the narrow channel separating the island on which the lighthouse stands from the mainland tended to make the waves vary greatly in size. An Auckland message says that settlers are searching for Gage's body. A coroner and a police constable will go north to-day, and, if it is possible to reach the island, will conduct an inquest. Mrs Newson was a daughter of Mr and Mrs C. G. Oden, of Tawa road, Onehunga.