DEATH OF TWO BOYS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22304, 19 January 1938, Page 10

DEATH OF TWO BOYS

DROWNING TRAGEDY IN RIVER INQUESTS AT ASHBURTON Verdicts of accidental drowning were returned by the District Coroner (Mr E. C. Bathurst) at the inquests at Ashburton yesterday into the deaths of Luwin Merrill, aged 12. and his cousin, Harold William Soal, aged 17. who lost their lives while swimming in the Ashburton river at Huntingdon on Sunday afternoon. The Coroner added that there was no evidence to show how and when the buys entered the water. He expressed sympathy with the boys’ fathers in their bereavements. Tlic first indication of the tragedy was the finding of Mcrrin’s body on Sunday evening about a mile below tlic pool where they were believed to have been swimming. Seal’s body was recovered from the pool about mid-day on Monday. Merrill was a son of Mr James Merrin, a larmer, and Soal, who was on holiday at Merrin’s home, was a son of Mr G. W. Soal, a school teacher, of Waikari. Evidence that the two boys left the farm about 2 p.m., with their bathing costumes, to go swimming in the river, was given by James Merrin, father of Lewin Merrin. He told the boys, who were accompanied by a dog, to return at 4 o'clock. The dog alone returned at that time, and (his caused him to become anxious, as the dog would not usually leave the boy. At 4.30 he became so anxious that ho went to the terrace overlooking the river, and, seeing no sign of the boys, went to look at a pool where he thought they would be swimming. The boys’ clothing was on the bank, but he could see no trace of them. He then went to a neighbour, G. R. Miles, who informed him that he had found the body of Lewin Merrin on a shingle bank about a mile below the pool. Lewin Merrin was not a good swimmer. The father said that he knew the pool and had swum there himself. He did not consider it dangerous. The river was normal, although slightly discoloured. ' George Raymond Miles, a farmer, of Huntingdon, said that while he was attending to his sheep about 6 p.m. on Sunday, near the river, he saw Mcrrin's body lying in six inches of water. As the limbs were quite stiff he thought the body had been dead for some lime. Constable J. E. R. Myers said mat after dragging had been carried out for about an hour and a half on Monday morning Soal’s body was brought from the hole, which was, in some places, 16 to 18 feet deep, and was about a chain long. The hole would be quite safe for a strong swimmer, but would be dangerous for any other swimmer. There did not appear to be any undercurrent in the hole from which the body was recovered.