Boy Leads Police A Varied Chase

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29842, 7 June 1962, Page 15

Boy Leads Police A Varied Chase

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, June 6. A 12-year-old boy missing from Dunedin since 9 a.m. on Tuesday evaded police today after leading them a merry chase through a railway tunnel, up a hill, through some thick scrub and across part of Otago harbour. The boy left his home tor school soon after 8 a.m. on Tuesday. About 9 o’clock he was seen at school. That was the last occasion he was reported seen until 12.30 p.m. today when he was observed at the railway yards at Port Chalmers. After a brief search of the area, Sergeant C. Knight, officer in charge of the Port Chalmers Police, saw the boy on the railway line at Sawyers Bay. He sprinted towards the boy, who realised Sergeant Knight was a policeman, although he was wearing a sports coat and no helmet. The boy ran through the

busy Roseneath railway tunnel on the South Island main trunk line and climbed over the hill. He hid in thick scrub. Four constables from Port Chalmers arrived and sealed off the area. But the boy ran from cover, down the other side of the Roseneath hill and jumped into a dilapidated canoe drawn up at the harbour’s edge. He paddled the frail boat—numerous holes were patched with pitch which was still wet—out into the harbour and round the Roseneath point. Police and bystanders trained binoculars on the craft and were concerned as his canoe was caught in the Victoria Channel current.

Fortunately the tide was coming in and the canoe was carried nearer the shore, but the boy was obviously having difficulty paddling and controlling it. Sergeant Knight said the boy managed to reach the railway line causeway across Blanket Bay and he disappeared before the police could reach the spot. “He should pot be too hard to find. It will not be easy to get that pitch off and he is sure to be covered with it,” the sergeant said.

The boy was seen again at St. Leonards later in the afternoon. The police dog Arko and his handler, Constable J. Orlowski, were then brought into the search but it was unsuccessful.

Late tonight there was still no sign of the missing lad.