A LOST HANDBAG

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 182, 30 April 1936, Page 10

A LOST HANDBAG

Quick Salvage By Wellington Diver The loss from a ship’s gangway of a woman’s handbag containing a fair sum in banknotes and its quick recovery by a diver was an interesting episode on the Wellington waterfront on Tuesday afternoon. Shortly before the departure for Auckland of the New Zealand Shipping Company’s motor-liner Rangitane, from Pipitea Wharf, the nursemaid of a well-known naval officer’s wife who was travelling to Auckland was ascending the ship’s gangway with a little girl in one arm and her handbag gripped under the other arm. The little girl made a sudden clutch at her nurse, who promptly clasped both arms about her charge, with the result that the bag fell into the water and sank between the ship and the wharf. The Rangitane left the wharf shortly afterward and the pilot, who had been informed of the mishap, manoeuvred the ship out in such a way as to cause as little disturbance as possible at the spot where the bag disappeared. Meanwhile the services, of a diver in the employ of the Harbour Board were requisitioned, and very soon after the ship had cleared the wharf be went down and quickly retrieved the handbag from a depth of over 40 feet. The bag and most of its contents were naturally very wet, but a careful check having been made, they are being dried out and will be restored promptly to their owner iu Auckland.