Australian Police Take Action

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 55, 7 March 1939, Page 7

Australian Police Take Action

Sending Detective to Assist in Piha Case CHARRED BONES MYSTERY United Press Association.—By Electrlo Tolesraph.—Copyrimt. Received Monday, 10.50 p.m. SYDNEY, March 6. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Macfcay, has decided to send Detec-tive-sergeant Alford to New Zealand to assist in unravelling the mystery of the tones found in a shack at Piha following a fire early in the morning of February 12. Detective-Sergeant Alford knows McKay well. NO FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AWAITING PATHOLOGICAL REPORTS Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Last Night. Apart from the announcement iu Sydney that an Australian detective is to leave for the Dominion to assist in the investigations, there were no further development to-day in the police inquiries into the fire in which the Sydney merchant, Gordon Robert McKay, aged 43, was reported to have been burned to death in a four-roomed ■hack at Piha. The Auckland police authorities arc Awaiting reports of the pathological examination of the small quantity of charred bones recovered from the ruins *>f the building. Before Dr. W. Gilmour, pathologist at the Auckland Hospital, can furnish a comprehensive report to the police certain laboratory work remains to be done, although it is -understood that the opinion has been formed that the remains are human. Associated with Dr. Gilmour in the pathological examination of the remaius is Mr. Kenneth MacCormick, wellknown Auckland surgeon. Mr. MacCormick has had considerable experience in bone surgery. WHOSE REMAINS ARE THEY? PROBLEMS CONFRONTING POLICE (Special to “The Times.”) AUCKLAND, Last Night. Although pathologists who have examined tue scanty iemawa taken by the Auckland police from the bach burned at Piha early iu the morning of February 12 are of the opinion that they are human, whether tney are those of >lr. Gordou Robert McKay, an Australian hide and skin merchant, aged 43, is something the investigating detectives nave to determine, uue theory is that, unknown to liia friend, Mr. J. A. Talbot, he escaped irom the lire and is wandering about the country, suffering from lose of memory, while the police •re intensifying their inquiries. The question confronting tho police is; If the remains, which comprise a four-inch square piece of skull with a email portion of flesh attached, a section pf the spine and small parts of bones, are not those of Mr. AlcKay, whose •re they I On tne morning of Saturday, Fcbxnary 11, Mr. McKay had several teeth extracted, and that evening he and his fellow Australian, Mr. Talbot, went to Piha so that, a» Mr. Talbot told the coroner when the inquest was formally opened, Mr. McKay could recuperate. It is considered in some quarters that the combined shock of having those teeth extracted and waking to lind the bach on lire prompted him to leave hurriedly m the darkness; that tho shock affected his memory. The finding of some bones and a small piece of a skuli-basc might be fortuitous. It remains tor Dr. W. Gilmour, pathologist at the Auckland Hospital, to tell tho coroner, if he can, whether the bones were **green’’ or whether they belonged to a person who had been dead some time. The bones found among tho debris of tho bach may Lave been there for some time, although the presence of a small piece of flesh upon the section of skull suggests otherwise. According to available information, the bach caught lire at some time between one and half-past one o'clock in t the morning of February 12, and the floor appears to have collapsed at approximately two o'clock. A point ut issue is said to be that if that were so, it might be unlikely, even if Mr. McKay's body were enclosed in embers and smouldering wood a foot in depth, that his body would be completely consumed. Inquiries made yesterday showed that, even with the forced draught of a crematorium, it takes from one and a-quarter to one and a-half hours for the body to be reduced to ashes. Where, then, is Mr. McKay t Reports from Sydney that he is on his wuy to America are ridiculed by the Auckland police. They are convinced that if alive he ia in the Dominion. Since they began their inquiries at the request of three Australian insurance companies, who hold aggregate covers of £50,000 upon his life, they have checked every passenger and every member of the crews of ships which have left New Zealand between February 12 and now. The position with the case is that Dr. Gilmonr will submit the report of his laboratory examinations to the coroner. He, in consultation witlrthe police, will decide the dale upon which the adjourned inquest proceedings shall be held. It is understood that upon Dr. Gilmour’s findings, which will not be made public until the day of the inquest, may rest the course of action to be decided by the police in the immediate future.