A HEAVY TOLL

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 December 1924, Page 5

A HEAVY TOLL

DEATHS BY DROWNING. HOLIDAY TRAGEDIES. . • ... j. . ABOVE THE AVERAGE.

During the past few days drowning fatalities—-either suicide q.r ' aecident-T-appear to have far exceeded the average for this period of the, year in the Dominion. A remarkable feature is th© number of youths who have met their death in.i-his tragic fashion. At least four cases of suicide,, of whom three are of youths ranging from 18 to 23, are reported, while the tragic end of a 14-year-old girl at Invercargill. is also to be deplored. The total number of deaths by ' drowning reported since Christinas is eight. (BY ASSOCIATION.) ..INVERCARGILL, Dec. 29. A girl, Mary Ann McKenzie, aged 14, and Andrew Sydney Sands, aged 23, residing at Hedgehop©, disappeared' o'n December 13. Search was made in various parts of the district, and their bodies were found on Sunday evening in the Dunsdale stream, near Hedgehope. An inquest was held to-day. . ' Mary McKenzie, mother of the deceased girl,; said her daughter left home oil the evening of Decemaer .13, after being chastised on her return from taking a message to Sands. _ Ambrose Jesse Sands said tnat the girl stopped at his hohse on December 13 and also on December 14. The following morning she left the house about ‘‘ 7 o’clock accompanied by his son, and neither was seen again until the bodies were recovered. William _ Hocking, a farmer, said he was strolling along the banks of the. /; Dunsdale stream on Sunday afternoon, when lie saw the two bodies lying in ’ about 12 inches of water. He at once""'..-. advised the police. : Constable Adam Kerse said that ho , proceeded to Dunsdale on-receipt of a \ message from the previous wit less, and recovered the bodies. Sands’ ;«tjbs were around the girl, .and his wrists were tied together with a-piece of her ortss. The bodies were in that position when ‘ . they were discovered. > 1" The verdict was that deceased committed suicide by drowning. WRONG MAN IDENTIFIED. • WELLINGTON, Dec. 29. The harbour fatality-- still remains' a < . mystery. It appears- that Wi.'iam Parry, caretaker for the Union Cun- , pany, who it was thought at first was the unfortunate man, has been on ; board the Mararoa ,as caretaker .for sometime. Like Mark Twain be s *.\s his death had been greatly, exagger- ' a ted. YOUNG MAN DISAPPEARS. - . PAHIATUA, Doc. 29 James John Priest, aged 21, ton of a local resident, is belie ml to, hnvt boon drowned at Ngit in, where he Was employed in driving a team for the County ' Council. He cycled from town early this morning, and later his hai and pipe were found in the'river. The indications are that ne had carried a hag of chaff some distance before proceeding to cross ; the furd. '• j TWO FATALITIES IN OTAGO. DUNEDIN, Dee; 29. At the inquest on Matthewson, who was drowned .at Warrington yesterd.'.y, a verdict was returned by Mr H. w. Bundle, the coroner, that death vns due to accidental drowning. * . The body of the lad Downes, tho was drowned in the surf at Port Mdyneaux yesterday, was recovered to day.