BATHER'S FATE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23029, 5 May 1938, Page 18

BATHER'S FATE

DROWNING OF GIRL CORONER'S RECOMMENDATION WARNING NOTICE NEEDED A verdict of accidental drowning was returned by Mr. W. I?. McKean, S.M., coroner, at an inquest yesterday into the death of Helen Gertrude McHardy. aged 10, whose body was found floating in the harbour on April 8. The coroner made a recommendation that a notice should be placed at Wilson's Beach, at the foot of Victoria Avenue, Reinuera. stating that ft was dangerous tc bathers, particularly when the tide was receding. The girl, who was a pupil at the Sacred Heart Convent, Jlemuera, and whose parents reside at Tc Hoe, Morrinsville, had been taken for a bathe, together with about 12 other girls, at Wilson's Beach on April 8. The party was in the charge of Joan Mary Lynch, a boarder at the convent. In evidence, Miss Lynch said that the tide was receding at the time, and she took the children across the sewer to water which was deep enough to swim in. None of the children was a very good swimmer, but most of them could swim a little. The same children had been taken to the beach on various occasions. Miss Lynch said she was engaged in teaching some of the smaller children to swim, when she noticed that two childrent were near the railway embankment. She called to them to come back, • but was later informed that they were on the other side of the embankment. When she arrived, the girls were being carried out very swiftly. She immediately entered the water, but the current was too strong and she found difficulty in regaining the embankment. One of the pupils was sent for help, while the remander made unsuccessful efforts to attract the attention of persons on the road. A young man, Edward Reginald Barry, stated that ho had rowed out to a launch and he rescued one of the girls, but there was no sign of deceased. Be estimated the speed of the current under the railway bridge at about four miles an hour.