STILL NO TRACE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21639, 3 November 1933, Page 10

STILL NO TRACE

TIIE IfUAWARO MYSTERY POLICE SEARCH CONTINUES INSPECTION OF WATERWAYS FURTHER WORK IN SWAMPS [nv telegraph—special reporteu] HUXTLY. Thursday No further developments of import- ! ance occurred to-day in tho investiga- ! tion of the Ruawaro mystery, in which | the murder of Mr. Samuel Ponder ! La key and his wife, Mrs. Christohel La key, is suspected. The search for the body of Mr. La key was again coni eentrated on tlic swamps surrounding : the farm, but the police were not for- : getful of the possibility that the body j could have been placed elsewhere. ! Although no work has been done since Saturday in removing quantities : of burning coal and slack on the Ke- ■ noivn property at Hotouaro, further operations at this point arc proposed !in the hope that the body may be there. It is probable that n steam shovel will be taken from Huntly ; shortly for the purpose of removing ; tho many tons of slack. Operations j at the dump are being made on sup- ! position only, but there is always a j likelihood that tho body may be | there. The work at present in hand consists principally of determining that the areas of swamp within convenient reach of tho La key farmhouse do not contain the body. Much land has been eliminated from consideration as the result of intensive searching for more than two weeks. An inspection of the Waikato River, Lake Whangape and other waters in the district was maintained to-day. The difficulty experienced in operating on tho lakes is the abundance of reeds, which prevent dragging in tho more shallow portions. Detectives Sneddon, Allsopp and Findiay are continuing their inquiries throughout the district until a late hour each evening. The police have taken special care in planning out the possible route by which the body of Mr. Lakey, if ho was murdered, was taken, and tracks leading from the property have been carefully studied. The investigators hold the belief that a sledge could have been used at one stage of tho journey, and the point is regarded as one of great- importance to the case. It appears that probably 11 hours elapsed between the tragedy and the finding of .Mrs. Lakey's body, and Mr. Lakey couid conceivably have been taken many miles away in that time. This difficulty is one of the greatest confronting tho investigators, and they are now concerned with tracing the body or satisfying themselves that it is not hidden in tho immediate district. Although the Xcw Zealand police have used aeroplanes on other occasions, the Ruawaro case is believed to be the first in which air surveys have been made for the actual purpose of crime detection. REWARD OF £IOO OFFERED ANNOUNCEMENT BY POLICE A reward of £IOO for the discovery of Mr. Samuel Pender Lakey or his body is offered by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. W. G. Wohlmann. In making the announcement yesterday, Mr. Wohlmann said any person disposed to take part in tho search should get in touch in the first instance with Chief-Detective J. Sweeney at the Lakey farmhouse at i Ruawaro. Mr. Sweeney would then in- j dicato the most likely areas to search, i