Both scared

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33092, 6 December 1972, Page 3

Both scared

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Dec. 5. Two Newtown childen hid last night to avoid parental wrath, while the police spent up to 100 man-hours searching in fear for their safety. The pair, a 10-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, both pupils of Newtown Primary School, were found safe and unharmed this morning. The girl, involved in an altercation with another youngster after school and scared of adult reprisals, spent the night near Martin Luckie Park. The boy, blamed for a broken window in an afterschool stone throwing episode, camped in a shed some distance from his home. At 7.1 i a.m., after radio

broadcasts, a woman noticed' the girl and telephoned the police who returned her to her parents. The boy, after a poor night, returned home at 7.57 a.m. ,

The police began to search for the children at 9.30 p.m., concentrating efforts on Martin Luckie Park after a report that the girl had said she was going there after school.

By IT p.m. the search team included 30 policemen and two police dogs. Men due off duty at 11 p.m. all volunteered to continue.

Soon after midnight, police inquiries in the Newtown area produced the background circumstances of the disappearances, and it began to seem likely that the two were in temporary hiding. The search was abandoned until morning.