Report On Mr Holt's Disappearance

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31583, 22 January 1968, Page 11

Report On Mr Holt's Disappearance

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) CANBERRA, Jan. 21. According to the official report of the police investigation into the disappearance of the former Australian Prime Minister, Mr Harold Holt, on December 17, there has been no indication that it was anything but accidental.

Mr Holt, whose body has not been recovered, vanished While swimming in a rough sea near his holiday home at Portsea, Victoria.

The official report, compiled by Federal and Victorian State Police, was released by the Government today. Mr Holt's disposition dur-

ing the week-end in which he died was normal and happy, the report says. Inquiries among neighbours, social contacts, and members of the family and household all emphasised this. The report quotes two doctors who saw Mr Holt on the two days before his death. One, his personal physician. Dr Marcus Faunce, said: “At the time I examined him there was no reason, either physical or mental, which might have caused or contributed to his death in ordinary circumstances.” The other, Dr B. C. Edwards, a near neighbour at Portsea who played tennis with Mr Holt on December 16, said: “He was happy and well, and seemed to enjoy the game, although he was not playing quite as well as usual. He had some shoulder trouble

from which he had almost recovered. He was able to play over-all strokes but was not playing them quite as well as usual.”

The report tells how the swimming party was formed on the morning of Mr Holt’s death. Mr Holt telephoned Mrs Marjorie Gillespie, a friend whose family home was near his at Portsea, and told her he was going to the beach and asked if any member of her family or their guests wanted to go with him. Mrs Gillespie, her daughter. Vyner, and two friends, Mt Martin Simpson and Mr Alan Stewart, left with Mr Holt. The report describes how, after watching the lone British yachtsman, Alec Rose, sail through the heads in the Lively Lady, the party went to Ocean Beach, carrying a string bag containing canned

drinks, glasses and a towel. But at no time after leaving the Gillespie house did any of the party have anything to eat or drink. Mr Holt went into the water, as did Mr Stewart, who later noticed that Mr Holt was swimming “in dangerous turbulence.” Mr Holt disappeared and the search for him began. The report quotes an old friend and associate of Mr Holt, Mr Theo Scales, as saying: “As a swimmer, Mr Holt was just average, except that he had terrific power of endurance. He took to underwater swimming, became fascinated by it, and rapidly became most proficient. “It made him much fitter, helped to keep him to the peak of condition, and yet was a tremendous relaxation to him.

. “He was very conscious of the limits to which he could subject himself, and at no time did he act in a foolhardy manner. I have never seen him do anything which 1 would consider a risk factor.” The report quotes expert opinions on the failure to locate Mr Holt’s body. It says professional fishermen from the area believe that the body was either carried out to sea or attacked by sea life. The Victorian Government pathologist, Dr J. M. McNamara, said that from his experience of bodies recovered from the area he believed that if Mr Holt’s body was to have been recovered this would have happened within 25 to 48 hours if the recovery was not complicated by such factors as being trapped in kelp or rock crevices or ravaged by sea life.