BODY WASHED ASHORE

Evening Star, Issue 21710, 3 May 1934, Page 3

BODY WASHED ASHORE

ECHO OF APRIL FISHING BOAT TRAGEDY [Per United Press Association.] WANGANUI, May 2. The body of a male Native, thought to be that of Maketu Wereta, aged thirty-eight, who has been missing since an upturned boat was discovered off the mouth of the Waitotara River on April 6, was found on the beach near Waverley by two young men who were out shooting yesterday afternoon. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition, and identification will be difficult. An inquest will be held. Wereta and two companions, Thomas Alexander. M'Lean, aged thirty-five, single, and Harold Hakaraia, aged twenty, married, all of Ihupuka Pa, Waitotara, went on a fishing expedition to the mouth of the Waitotara River on April 5. The coastal vessel Kapuni on April 6 discovered their boat floating upside down -four miles out at sea, and later, as a result of a search on shore, M'Lean’s body was discovered. Although an intensive search was maintained at the time, there was no sign of the other two bodies until the discovery yesterday about a mile below Waverley beach camp and some miles north of the Waitotara River, at a spot where, it is believed, the boat capsized. An inquest was held on the body of M'Lean, and a verdict was returned that the deceased had been drowned, but that there was no evidence to show how he got into the water. A search made along the coastline to-day by a large party of Maoris acting under police guidance failed to reveal any trace of the third member of the illfated trio.