THE CLAVERLY MYSTERY

Evening Star, Issue 23124, 25 November 1938, Page 8

THE CLAVERLY MYSTERY

NO TRACE OF MISSING WOMAN POLICE SEARCH UNABATED [Pee United Press Association.] BLENHEIM, November 25. There is no success at Claverly, the partially-abandoned Public Works camp on the South Main Trunk railway, south of Kaikoura, in the search for Mrs Harriet Jane Patience, who has been missing since early October. Twenty police are still engaged in the search for the woman, who was last seen alive on and it is obvious that the authorities believe that she is dead, according to observations at the scene of tho police operations. It seems more than likely that if tho missing woman is not soon found the strength of the police party at Claverly will be increased; From the methodical system adopted there is no doubt that if the body is within the urea of search it will be found, but, of course, there are a number of other possibilities to be considered in connection with the woman’s disappearance. For more than a month a police party from Christchurch has been combing a wide extent of country, turning over spoil and excavating fillings from the huge rock cuttings built for the railway, but so far the only bodies uncovered are sheep carcasses. A patrol of the sea coast from the mouth of tho Conway River to Kaikoura, a distance of approximately 30 miles, is being carried out daily, _ tho patrol being worked in three sections, and the aid of the Marine Department on questions of tides and currents has been enlisted. The nature of the coast, however, presents unusual difficulties for patrol work, for a great deal is rocky and not easily accessible. Judging from tho painstaking and ■persistent nature of the operations already carried out, and what it is proposed to do, it is apparent that the police are optimistic that their endeavours will be rewarded.