A MYSTERY SOLVED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1088, 14 February 1918, Page 5

A MYSTERY SOLVED.

TE MATAI DROWNING FATALITY. Sonic six months ago the body of a middle-aged man was, discovered in t\w river near Te Matai. Police arid;colonial inquiries were held at the time, but the body was buried without identification bom"; established. Although enquiry was continued, nothing further was learned, and the matter had am parently passed the way of' other mysteries. The matter, however, was mentioned iu the report of Mr P. Aisher (charitable aid officer) at the meeting of the Palmerston Hospital Board to-day, which apparently establishes the unknown man's identity beyond doubt. Mr Aisher's report was as follows: "In October last I reported to the Board that at the request of the ]>olice I buried the body of a man found in the Manawatu river at To Matai. The sequel of this case is this: Ou January 19 a farmer named Francis Toley called on me, sent by the, police, and informed me that a brother of his, named George Toley, 45, shepherd, single, had been employed in the Pohangina district, and was missing since July, 1917. He lias been over to that district and Pahintua, where he found his brother's clothes, and lie had also a certain sum of money in the post office there. He saw the'dental plate that was removed from the lxxly by the police here, with one tooth missing, and that tooth he found among his brother's effects at Pahiatua. He was perfectly satisfied that the body buried hero was that of his brother. I gave him all the information I could, and showed him his brother's grave. The brother tells me he had no idea how the deceased got into the river. At Pahiatua the people who knew him in that district had an idea, that when he disappeared he was hiding, or had got out of the Dominion to evade military duties."