MYSTERY OF THE GULF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18457, 21 July 1923, Page 8

MYSTERY OF THE GULF.

LITTLE .BARRIER TRAGEDY*

MAN'S SECRET DEPARTURE.

BODY AT BOTTOM OF CLIFF.

POLICE PARTY'S RETURN.

How Hubert George Weideman met his death on the Little Barrier has not yet been fully elucidated, but with • the return of the party of detectives who went to the island on Tuesday there is available a considerable amount of information as to the circumstances which preceded the finding of his dead body at the foot of a 200 ft. cliff on the ocean side of the island: The police party which went down in a launch on Thursday consisted of SeniorDetective J. Cummings, Detectives T. Kelly and E. J. Barling, and Constable J. Huane. They took with them a coffin, m which the exhumed body was . brought back to Auckland. .'■■■';■■ ~ According to the' police account, the caretaker on the island, William Cleaver, was clearing a track to-the mountain on June 14 and when ne&*< the top he saw smoke rising from a ridge in the vicinity. He had with him his telescope, but this did not enable him to pick out any individual. Cleaver's first idea was that the intruder on the island was either a poa,cher or some other unauthorised, man. • . Man in the Scrubs Knowing that someone who had no right to be there was hiding Cleaver, on the following day, continued his search, and m the afternoon he heard : someone scrambling through the thick' scrub, which covers the island.' Looking carefully in the direction whence the crackling sounds came, he saw a man, who, by the aid of his glass, he identified as Weideman. This man had- assisted in'taking him'down to the island in May, 1922, when he began his lonely life as caretaker. At that time Weideman was employed by the launch people who carried down Cleaver, his family, and effects. It did not take the caretaker long to discover the reason why Weideman had come to the island. A sack of kauri gum and a quantity of fungus were found in his possession, thus making it- quite clear that he had landed on the forbidden island seeking kauri gum. Cleaver took Weideman down to his house, and gave him food and a shakedown. On the following morning, June 16, when Cleaver arose, he : found Weideman had gone, leaving behind him in the room he. had occupied a portmanteau. Weideman had made his exit— cannot be called his escape, seeing he was in no way under arrest—by a side window. Thus he had managed to slip away silently, without arousing any of the other inmates. Dinghy Disappears. Cleaver soon discovered that his dinghy had also disappeared. This little boat was moored just in front of the house. The search for Weideman and the stolen dinghy was continued by Cleaver on subsequent days and on June 27 the body of the dead man, in a considerably bruised condition, was found. Weideman had then been dead for some days. , Cleaver tried to effect ' communication with the outside world, by fires- and Horse lamp, to tell of the tragedy that had occurred, but the weather was very thick; visibility was limited and to his signals of i. distress Cleaver received no response. In those circumstances he dug a grave and therein • interred the body: The burial took place on June 29 and it was not until July 19 that the body was exhumed, placed in its' coffin and brought back by launch to Auckland yesterday.. The coffin was at once taken fo , the morgue. ; a i Boat. Three Miles Away. The missing dinghy was discovered about three miles, from the; spot 'where the body was. '.' . l ~ ,„'". >C',^"-.'-■■ , . Weideman was a seaman 'by "calling. He was about 38 years of age, sft. 6in. in height,, of medium to strong build, of ftnV | complexion,, but; bald in' the front.; ; ' Cleaver lives on the island with his wife and four young children. ,'. ''■ „ The island is well known as. a bird sanctuary t and " this fact " suggests '._ that it would not be difficult for a man to secure food. The island is'about 7000 acres "in extent and "the highest point is 2600 ft. above sea-level. ;. , ■ ..-.»; Where the body was found the' sea at, times sweeps in with hurricane force. ,- a the foot of the ' cliff are ' numerous 1 huge boulders, weighing anything from a quarter to half a ton. In the, fury of the storm these boulders arc sometimes ' swept away to sea and then again thrown back to the foot of the cliff,

The points that require elucidation are How did Weideman come 'to land ;on the island ? Did ' he' meet his . death by falling from the top of the cliff, or did he fall out of the dinghy at sea, the body then being washed ashore? The fact th»V the dinghy ' was found in good order on the beach and with the oars. and rowlocks in seems to negative the latter suggestion. '■'"■'■:.

Weideman came to New . Zealand nearly two years ago as a member of the crew of the schooner Cecelia Sudden, which . was on the voyage from Newcastle to Callao when the first mate, fell . from aloft, receiving injuries to which he succumbed before the vessel reached Auckland. Subsequently, the schooner sailed from Auckland, and was burned in the Hauraki Gulf, on September 10, 1921. Weideman had then been promoted to the position of first mate. He has since lived in Auckland, It is understood his mother : resides in Melbourne. .' .