ACTION TAKEN TO GUARD ARTICLES DEEMED VALUABLE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22952, 21 May 1949, Page 6

ACTION TAKEN TO GUARD ARTICLES DEEMED VALUABLE

WELLINGTON, May 20,

During the concluding stages. of his evidence yesterday before the inquiry into the crash of the airliner Kereru, Police Sergeant C. L. Scanlon denied that property brought in by the police had been bundled together in a form difficult to identify. To have prevented the removal of the property would have required a guard, or the sending in of another party on the Saturday- No steps, so far as he was aware, had been taken to do that.

Answering counsel for the National Airways Corporation, Mr. D. W. Virtue, the witness said he knew of nine policemen in the first party which had been in charge of Sergeant Graham, of Palmerston North. Duty to Guard Personal Effects

The witness considered that it was the duty of the police to guard personal effects where they were of no value. The police had taken articles of value into custody. Asked whether it was not possible to leave a constable on guard Sergeant Scanlon said that in his opinion the property remaining when the police left was not of sufficient value to justify such a course. All of it was sodden arid some was burnt. The rear wheel of the aircraft, the propeller tip and a quantity of clothing had since been recovered. To Mr. C. A. L. Treadwell, for the Internal Affairs Department and the relatives of two of the passengers, said that Sergeant Scanlon had said that property had been recovered from various places in the immediate district and the explanation of the persons found in possession of it was that they thought it was of no use and would not be wanted by the relatives, or that they had taken it as souvenirs. Mr. Treadwell: These were just snoopers who had gone there without authority? The witness: Yes. He added that they were all kinds of people, including women. The police had their names and they would be prosecuted if a crime could be found to fit them. Asked by the chairman whether, on an occasion such .as that, he did not think it desirable to have some form of control to prevent the removal of effects. Sergeant Scanlon said that as a result of that experience he thought some control was necessary. Only One Suitcase Recognised Tire secretary of the National Airways Corporation, Mr. K. J. Crichton, said he had been at the wreckage during the time the first police party was there, and the only suitcase he had seen opened was that mentioned by Sergeant Scanlon. That was the only suitcase recognisable as such.

He had not seen any wallets. To his knowledge no one in his organisation had taken steps to see that identifiable articles were returned to the passengers’ relatives. An earlier witness, Wing-Com-mander R. C. Kean, inspector of aircraft accidents, was recalled and gave evidence of his inspection of the scene of the accident. He had found nothing, he said, that would satisfy him that it could provide evidence for his report. Asked whether he had made a report in which the Kereru accident was considered in the light of previous accidents, Wing-Commander Kean said he had made a report to the Minister in which four recent accidents were commented upon.