Belated Presentation To Reluctant Recipient

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29908, 23 August 1962, Page 15

Belated Presentation To Reluctant Recipient

A resident of Runanga, Mr Raymond Boote, was presented with the Royal Humane Society’s Certificate of Merit by the Mayor (Mr C. R Wylde) at the monthly meeting of the Runanga Borough Council on Tuesday night. Ulis was a sequel to an incident which took place on the Rapahoe beach, a few miles north of Greymouth, more than four years and a half ago. On December 21, 1957, the ketch Te Rapunga which had drifted for some days in the Tasman Sea, after being dismasted. was seen to be in trouble off the Rapahoe beach.

The crew set out sea anchors in an attempt to ride out the storm These proved ineffectual, and two members of the crew left to take a line to the shore. One returned to the ketch after they had lost the line, but the other

continued on to the beach. Mr Boote plunged into the heavy surf and assisted the man to the beach. The Te Rapunga was later washed up on to the beach, and a Runanga man was drowned after he had been thrown against the side of the ketch in an attempt to take a line to it. In presenting the certificate, Mr Wylde said the presentation had proved quite a protracted affair. The certificate was dated June 13, 1968, and to be presented by the Mayor of Greymouth (Mr F. W. Baillie) along with one to another man in connexion with the same incident. Mr Boote had been reluctant to accept the award, however, and it had finally been passed over to Mr Wylde for presentation. The certificate was handed over to Mr Boote amid applause from council members.