Clothing, Plane Parts Taken From Kereru Wreck

Northern Advocate, 20 May 1949, Page 7

Clothing , Plane Parts Taken From Kereru Wreck

WELLINGTON, Fri. (P.A.) .—Evidence of the unauthorised removal of parts of the aircraft and some of the passengers possessions after the first police party had- left the -wreckage of . the Lodestar Kereru on March 19 was, given yesterday by.. Sergeant C. L. Scanlon, of Wellington; before the'board of inquiry investigating the disaster.

Sergeant Scanlon said that when he reached' the scene of the accident on March 19, he saw clothing and other articles scattered over a wide area around the wreckage. ' Some of the clothing was even in nearby trectops. The' only suitcase he recalled seeing; was the property of one of the passengers, Mr Jeune. The bag was damaged but the contents were contained in it.

siderabia amount of clothing had beeh-.-. removed. The tail wheel of the piano was missing, one of the propellers had- : been dismantted-and the tip of ; one of the propeller blades had beeq cut off, apparently withai LEFT UNGUARDED -1- '- On the. second visit’ witnessUooked for documents which the inspector o£ aircraft accidents had been .Unable Jo find. ' . j ' : ' 'rrc,.:. *5

INSUFFICIENT MANPOWER ' After the last of the, bodies had been removed, he supervised the sorting out of articles to be taken back with the party. There was not enough manpower available to remove a large portion of the articles, and he was forced to take only what could be carried.

Questioned by Mr W. E. Leicester, counsel for the relatives of Mr A. G. Hyland, one of the. passenger's, Sergeant g.canion . said. that so far -.as he knew, no steps had been taken by the police to safeguard the property, between the time of departure on Saturday and return on Monday. It was not correct that the police” had gone through a number of suitcases to ascertain the property there. Various sums of money found had been put with the rest of the property brought in. Mr Leicester. aSked. whether witness would dispute statements that wallets had been emptied and - bundled together because the police wanted ta travel as lightly as possible. ' Sergeant Scanlon replied that he had not seen any' wallets emptied, Wal-" lets containing "money had ~ been “ brought in, and*.he presumedrtlwsckad - been handed back.--- - On the Sunday : after the'vMf t© the wreckage a list was made of all property brought in to the central ".police station.

He sorted out documents and other articles which he considered might be valuable.

Mr Jeunc’s bag was opened and documents and a roll of aerial photos were removed. The documents related to the Local Government Commission.

•When witness returned to the wreckage the following Monday, March 31, it was obvious that a con-

NOT SCATTERED Mr Leicester said he had been informed by two who were there that the police went through suitcases and scattered the contents.

One of the possengers, Mrs Cattin, had a package of jewellery, as excess baggage. Asked whether he had seen jewellery scattered or thrown on the ground, witness said he had seen neither. ... . - .1 ■* . ' . 7

It was quite incorrect'tfaat property brought in: by: the police had paertz bundled together in a form difficult to identify. .. v . -. J Asked whether it was not possible to leave a constable on guard, Sergeant Scanlon said that in. his opinion [the property remaining when the police left was not of sufficient value to justify such a course. All of. it..was * sodden and some burned. ... ...

The tail wheel of the aircraft, a propeller tip and « quantity- of clothing had since been recovered from various places in the immediate district and the explanation of persons found in possession of it was that they thought it was of no use and;would hot be wanted by relatives, or that they had taken jt as souvenirs.

‘JUST SNOOPERS’ Mr. Treadwel: . These were just snoopers who. had gone there without authority? -- . — — Witness: Vos.- T&ejk were-ell kinds of people, including women. The police have their names and they will be prosecuted if a crime can be found to fit them.

The secretary of the National Airways Corporation (Mr K. J. Crichton) said he had been at the wreckage during the time-the first police party was there and the only suitcase he. had seen • opened was that mentioned: by .".Set?!" geant. Scanlon. That was the only SUiti- 7 case recognisable as such. .... To his knowledge no one in his organisation had taken steps to see that identifiable articles were returned to passengers’’ relatives.. ,?• . .