TOKOMARU TRAGEDY

Grey River Argus, 22 May 1944, Page 4

TOKOMARU TRAGEDY

MAORI YOUTH Disappears from Scene SEQUEL TO KILLING OF MRS MILL. . GISBORNE, May 20. Armed with a shotgun, a 15-year-old Maori boy has taken to the bush, following the brutal murder of a woman near Tokomaru Bay. Police, who have been issued with revolvers and rifles, have initiated the most intensive search undertaken since the Graham case on the West Coast.

The police have been joined by settlers— upwards of one hundred of them—who have brought whatever weapons they can muster. Mrs. Lois Rosamond Mill was found dead on Thursday evening by her husband, Mr. George Mill. Her head had been badly battered and a belt was dr,awn tightly about the neck.

The murder occurred at Bexhaven Station, near Tokomaru Bay. The Maori boy now missing was a former employee on the station.

He has just turned fifteen, is of big build, and fairly tall. The country being searched is most difficult—rugged hill country covered with bush and scrub — calculated to give the fugitive the advantage. Several huts are situated in the back areas, but these are reported to be under close observation, so that no protection will be offered from the weather for the boy. More than one hundred settlers have been organised as search parties, and night and day they have concentrated their efforts in an area of bush within a fifteen-mile radius of the Bexhaven homestead, some on foot and others on horseAlthough traces of ,a fugitive were discovered not far from the homestead yesterday nothing further has been found. The police and settlers are conducting the search under extreme, difficulties. Shortly after the arrival of police from Gisborne at midnight on Thursday the weather begun to deteriorate. The police were not clothed for outdoor work in wet weather, and their uniforms soon became mud-bespattered. Last night heavy rain began, and this morning Bexhaven Station was isolated from wheeled traffic. The station is twenty-five miles inland from Tokomaru Bay on the Ihungia Road, and the road for seven miles bogs up in baa weather. Cars attempting the journey this morning were either axle-deep in mud or could not be kept on the slippery portions of the road. A serious problem has been caused in catering for the large number of men who joined in the search. Last night twenty-two police and neighbouring settlers camped in the homestead ana station buildings and at 9.30 a.m. to-day the party was still without breakfast and were waiting for food to come from Tokomaru Bay. . To-day the position was intensified with many more settlers joining in the search. Pack horses are being used to take supplies of food to the station.

Police Inspector D. A. McLean expressed admiration of the settlers who were assisting under the worst possible weather. No trace of the weapon used to batter Mrs. Mills has been found

Missing Youth Found Shot WITH GUN BESIDE HIM GISBORNE, May 20. Following the tragedy at Tokomaru Bay in which Mrs Lois Raymond Mill was the victim, there be : gan a search for a 15-year-old Maori boy named Tai Matu, who had been missing from the Bexhaven Station, Tokomaru Bay since Thursday night, where the body of Mrs Mill was found under a bed with the head battered and a belt tight round the throat. Mrs Mill was 39 years of age. The search for Matu concluded late on Saturday with the discovery of the youth’s body in a scrub-cov-ered gully. The gully is 300 yards from the Mill homestead. There was a gunshot wound m the boy’s h6’ad, and a shotgun beside the body, containing an exploded cartridge. Several live rounds were found in his hip pocket.