DEATH OF JOHN I. FOX

Manawatu Times, Volume XLXI, Issue 3480, 14 December 1926, Page 7

DEATH OF JOHN I. FOX

SAD END OIF WEED-KNOWN FARMER. [Per Press Association.} AUCKLAND, Last Night. A three days’ search for John Ignatius Fox, who disappeared from his farm at Henderson last Wednesday, culminated in the finding of his body in the Henderson Creek on Saturday afternoon. The deceased had recently leased a 20-acre property in the Henderson Valley and lived there with another man. His wife is absent from the Dominion on holiday, and his son is a pupil ftf a Southern college. In the absence of his companion last Wednesday, the deceased disappeared, leaving a note Indicating that he contemplated committing suicide on account of aspersions which had been cast on his loyalty during the lat e war. Until his disappearance Fox had given no indication of worry.

lAt an inquest held yesterday, medical evidence was given to tho effect that death probably occurred on Wednesday.

A letter was produced in which' the deceased stated that, although he had been awarded damages in a libel action originating In the Waikato, he believed that his friends viewed him with suspicion on account of the allegation that he had a Gorman spy. He mentioned the names of two British officers who, he said, could dissipate the stigma. The Coroner (Mr E. K. Hunt, S.M.) returned a verdict that the deceased committed suicide while suffering from depression. Pox was a naturalised Austrian and was born in Vienna in IS7S, His family name was Fuchs. Educated at Oxford, he was a prominent Fabian, and a frequent guest of the Countess of Warwick. He was acquainted with H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, and Bernard Shaw ,and as an associate of the British Labour Party he stood for the Reading Division against Sir Rufus Isaacs, now the Marquess of Reading He enlisted with the British section of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1914, and served in Egypt and Gallipoli, returning to England in 1920. Ho established a club for disabled New Zealanders in London. After lecturing in military camps, he cam e to tho Dominion and settled near Feilding. Ho was secretary for the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association, and later on organiser for the Dairy Farmers’ Union.

The news of the death of Mr Fox will be received with regret by his many friends and acquaintances in the Manawatu, where ho lived for ®° many years. A man of considerable ability and energy, he took an active part in any movement with which he because connected. Coming to New Zealand in 1904, be was first engaged as a curate in Foxton, and married while there. After tho war. in which ho served the British cause honourably, Mr Fox took a prominent part in the K.S.A. movement, and finally settled down to farming pursuits at lAorangi. He took an active part in the Farmers’ Dairy Union, and was for a time organiser of that body.

children, but stayed home themselves and earned another day’s pay by working for someone else. The committee wanted everybody to attend to maiko the function a success.

Mr. Kemp said the picnic committee was anxious to safeguard against failure. At present they were unable to say definitely how many wouI« turn up. If the Council's last resolution was allowed to stand, it was felt that the picnic would not be a success. To Cr. McLeavey, Mr. Kemp stated that 27 employees stayed away from the picnic last year.

When the deputation had withdrawn, the Mayor remarked that it was plain that many men who had been out ot employment would not want to go to the picnic. He also believed the picnic committee had. paid the fares of some of the children in order that they should go, and in other cases where men had said that they could not afford the trip, no action had been taken in regard to deducting their pay. It would be a shame for the picnic to die out, and it was also a pity friction had arisen. Cr. Fitzherbert thought the request of the deputation should be agreed to. The majority should rule, and ho moved that the present resolution on the minute books bo rescinded. If there was a case of genuine hardship it could be considered by the committee.

Cr. Edwards supported the motion, but Cr. Hodgens spoke against it. The minority had rights, he said, and if the Council was going to use “the big axe," there would bo no pleasure in the outing at all. He also deplored the necessity of a man in poor circumstances having to go and plead his poverty before a committee. If there was the necessity for such action, it should be to the Council that the man should go. Cr. Oram: There is no compulsion.

Either a man goes to the picnic and ia paid a fuU day’s pay. or he stays home and works. He agreed that someone ought to decide in cases of genuine hardship, perhaps the finance committee. Cr. McLeavey couldn’t agree to compelling a man to go to a picnic if he didn’t want to go. Cr. Graham supported the motion, if it was clearly understood that the finance committee would be the “Court of Appeal.” Cr. Eliott saw no reason to alter the Council’s previous decision. All work was suspended in the borough on picnic day, so those who stayed at home could not work for the Council at all. Cr. Oram then suggested that work should be provided for those who did not want to go. He moved an amendment accordingly, whereupon Cr. Fitzherbert withdrew his motion. Cr. Hodgens and others supported the amendment, which was carried.