DROWNING AT TOKOMARU

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 January 1922, Page 3

DROWNING AT TOKOMARU

At Tokomaru on Tuesday the Coroner, Mr A. J. Graham, 3.P., held an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of the boy, Stanley Peter Jamieson, who was drowned on Sunday afternoon in a dam adjoining a fiaxmill in that locality. The first witness called was Laureson Jamieson, father of the deceased boy, who deposed / that his son .was eight years and five months old. Witness last saw him alive at 3 o’clock on Sunday afternoon. The boy had been warned against swimming in the dam, but was in the habit of bathing in tlie river. He knew of nothing untoward until late in the afternoon, when the alarm was given as to the boy being missing.

Ngaio Rope, aged 11 years, and his brother, Eric, aged nine years, who had been the-boy’s companions in ttje afternoon, gave similar evidence. Bt?th declared that all three went to the darn at about 4.30 in the afternoon. Stanley wanted to dive off a platform at the deep end of tire dam but they dissuaded him from doing that, and all paddied about in the shallow end for about 15 minutes. Stanley then went in the direction of the mill without dressing and as lie did not return within ten minutes the witnesses thought that Ire was hiding from them. Both were positive that they saw the deceased lad leave the vicinity of the darn and were equally certain that he could uof have returned without their noticing tire fact. They called to Stanley hut received no reply, and they decided, after placing his clothes in a part of the mill to return to the edge iA the dam, where they had been left by lire boy after undressing. Later, being unable to discover him, the witnesses gave (he alarm. Neither had seen the hoy re-enter the water. William Adams, engineer, stated the body had been recovered at .the deep end of Hie darn in 7ft of water, but not near tire outlet, after the water had been drained from it. The spot was a very dangerous one. Constable McGregor gave formal evidence and the coroner returned a verdict of accidentally drowned, no blame being attachable to anyone.