TWO MEN DROWNED

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 191, 10 May 1937, Page 10

TWO MEN DROWNED

Maoris Capsized Out of Canoe FATALITY IN TIDAL RIVER Companions Reach Shore Exhausted By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Maj- 9. A double tragedy overtook a party of four Maoris when an old native canoe in which thej’ were returning from a football match at Kinohaku, near Kawhia, capsized in a tidal river in tlie upper reaches of the Kawhia Harbour at about 7.30 p.m. ou Saturday. Two of the Natives were drowned, and the two others were exhausted when they reached the shore. The victims were :— John Cunningham, aged about 21, single, of Owliiro, and formerly of Taranaki. George Kara, aged 24, single, of Owliiro. The party, which comprised Cunningham, Kara, and two other Maoris named John Tikina, aged 29, and Tom Reihana, aged 22, left Kinohaku after the two former had participated in a football match. They set out for their homes at Owliiro on a tidal river about 10 miles from Kawhia Heads When the canoe capsized the river was in high tide, which would make its width about two chains. It is understood that when the craft overturned, Cunningham clung to Kara, who was a very fine swimmer. Cunningham could not swim. The other two Maoris struck out for the bank on the muddy side of tlicriver, but Reihana tired and sank. Tikina, who was also tiring, dived, and after frantic efforts, brought his companion to the surface. He then secured a floating paddle and with it towed Reihana to the muddy shallows and on toward the bank until both men collapsed. The cries of the men attracted the attention of a ctrtftoad of Maoris who were passing, and the two men were taken on to dry land in a completelyexhausted condition. Constable Carran, of Kawhia, was summoned by telephone, and the Natives immediately tried to arrange for a boat to search for Kara and Cunningham, but there was none available. Soon a large number of Maoris, including near relatives and friends of the two missing men, assembled near the river. Men, women, and children, and even infants, were grouped round the various tires which were lit, and a pathetic vigil was begun. In the cold, sleety rain they sat up through the night to await the early morning ami low tide, when tlie search for the two lost men could be resumed. Cunningham was a representative Rugby footballer and was well known in the Kawhia district, where he was very popular. The tragedy was a sad sequel to the opening of the season for the Kawhia Rugby Football Union. A search party found the bodies of Cunningham and Kara in the early hours of the morning within a chain of the spot where the canoe capsized. An inquest was opened and adjourned until May 16.