MISSING SOLDIER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18066, 5 April 1919, Page 9

MISSING SOLDIER.

A PECULIAR CASE. CONFLICTING STORIES. [Per Press Association.] • ’ DUNEDIN, April 4. The Court of Inquiry into the di»» appearance of Private Mould from th» Maori on February 3 was resumed, tor the purpose of taking the evidence of Leslie James List, assistant purser oil the Maori at the time. This witness said lie could not teß the Court anything .whatever about > the alleged disappearance of Mould, - Ho made a statement on February 21 y to an officer and a non-commissionod officer, while crossing the Strait, to the effect that on January 27 a returned man named Mason reported to the purser, witness being present, that! about 11.30 at night he saw a man coming out of the steerage doorway, wear- ; „ ing an overcoat. He was a thick-set man, and was smoking a cigarette. This man took a handkerchief, put it) over his eyes, walked out, stood on the rail and tools a neat header over the side. That was Mason’s statement. He (List) did not say that he saw the man go overboard. If any officer and noncommissioned officer had made a statement to that effect, he would contradict it. He did not see the man go overboard. Mr Neill, appearing for Mrs Mould, asked Lieutenant iVl’Carthy whether ho was prepared to stand by his evidence that List did say he saw the man go overboard- 9 Lieutenant M ! Cartky: Yes, I can vouch for it. List repeated that there must hav* been some misunderstanding. He totally denied that he at any time said he saw the man go overboard'. Mr Neill asked whether tiler© was any record of another man named. Bunas going overboard. List replied that there was an ofik&M record ol : the ship being stopped and turned round on January 27, M. Rudd, assistant secretary to tho Union Steam Ship Company, said that there was no record in the company 1 * , office as to Mould's disappearance, but there was a record of Burns’s disap* pearauce. Tho company’s impression was that it was Burns, and not Mould, that- Mason was referring to. The Court adjourned till next Wed* nesday. FURTHER EVIDENCE. [Per Press Association.] DUNEDIN, April 4 To-day, at the sitting of the Cbusf of Inquiry into tho of Private Mould, it was stated tuat a returned soldier named Mason reported to tk» purser of the Maori on January 27 that a man named Burns had leaned overboard- The Union Steam Snip* Company’s file shows that Mason made a report about midnight, and that the purser reported to Captain Cameron, who at once turned the dhip round and then interviewed Mason. Others also interviewed had a doubt about th* story, and as the night was dark, the wind fresh from the south and the sell choppy, the ship was put on her course. With so mamv passengers it was hard to find whether one had gone. Two or three passengers on deck at the time saw nothing. To the captain Mason said that the lost man. was wearing an pverooat. To the police at Lyttelton he said the man had no overcoat. From these aM other die* crepanoies it was thought that Masws, who was suffering from shell-shock, imagined' the story. < Subsequently, however, a suitoase bearing the initials 8.8. was found in a cabin. There has been no request to the military for as inquiry.