LONG POINT TRAGEDY

Evening Star, Issue 21637, 5 February 1934, Page 11

LONG POINT TRAGEDY

INQUEST CONCLUDED The inquest on the bodies of the three victims of the drowning tragedy at Long Point was concluded at Owaka on Saturday morning, when Thomas Kinney Stickle, school-teacher, identified the third body recovered as that of George Gibb Menzies. Witness also detailed how Menzies, Sproat, and Connell were members of a fishing party at Groper Gut, near Long Point on January 20. A huge wave swept Menzies and Sproat off the rocks, and Connell, after partly undressing, plunged into to their assistance. He secured Sproat, but could not reach the rocks again. Evidence concerning searching operations and the discovery of the bodies was given by Constable Dark (Owaka), Constable Irwin (Kaitangata), George Hebert Thomson (Long Point), William M'Chesney (Invercargill) and Thomas Meek (Long Point), who recovered Menzies’ body. The inquest was held before Mr H. A. Brough, J.P., and a jury of four. The verdict was that George Menzies and Gordon Sproat met their deaths by drowning at Long Point on January 20, and that Charles Connell lost his life on the same occasion in an heroic attempt to aid his companions. A rider was added congratulating the police on the thoroughness with which the search for the bodies of the victims had been conducted.