A TEMUKA MYSTERY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1012, 24 July 1891, Page 12

A TEMUKA MYSTERY.

AN INQUEST TWO YEARS AFTER DEATH.

(PRESS ASSOCIATION.! Timaru, July 20,

For some days past rumours have been rife that representations had been made to the Colonial Secretary, upon which be had directed that tho body of Johu Hay hurst, who died at Temuka in April, 18S9, and was buried in Temuka Cemetery, should be exhumed and an inquest held. The rumours assumed definits shape today, when Mr R. Beetham, R.M., of Christ, church, arrived at Timaru, and will open the inquest at Temuka at nine o’clock to-morrow morning. . Dr Ogston, of Dunedin, and Dr Guthrie, of Christchurch, will conduot tho post post mortem, and an analysis of the stomach and other parts of the body will be made by Professor Black, of Otago University. Mr John Hayhurst was one of the early settlers in South Canterbury, and was possessed of large property, which was taken possession of under a will by bis only som The enquiry to-morrow will be preliminary, as it is reported that after the jury have viewed the r-omains evidence will be led as to identification, and the enquiry adjourned for fourteen days to await the results of the medical examination. Temuka, July 21.

The inquest was opened this morning be. fore Mr R. Beetham, Coroner, touohing the death of John Hayhurst, who died and was buried in April, ISS9. The work of exhuming the body wa3 begun at S this morning, and by the time the jury arrived at 9.30, the coffin was out and placed in a tent alongside the grave. The lid of the coffin having been taken off the jury viewed the body, and at the request of the Crown Prosecutor (Mr Martin, of Christchurch), Mr Beetham directed that Drs Ogston and Guthrie should snake a post mortem examination, and hand such portions of the body as they might choose, to Pro. fessor Black, of Dunedin, for analysis. The Coroner and jury then returned to town, and the Coroner said he did not propose to call evidence that day. Circumstances had occurred which had rendered a full enquiry necessary, and it would therefore be adjourned to 4th August, vshen the result of the investigation of the medical men and other evidence would be laid before them. The ca 36 is exciting immense interest in South Canterbury, and further developments are anxiously looked for.

The Lyttelton Times of Saturday mentioned the fact that an order for the exhumation of the body had been issued, and gave tho fallowing interesting account of the history of tho deceased settler, whose death is to bo enquired into : —John Hayhurst was a Manchester mau, aud was born lu IS2S, hi 3 father being a farmer. When about 16 years of age, his energetic nature lod him to seek liis fortuno in Australia. He was poor, but plucky, and it is said that he reached the land cf his desire by “stowing away ” on a ship bound for Sydney. On arriving in New South Wales he was soon at work he took the first work offered him ; but aftor a few months decided to come to New Zealand. To Canterbury he came, and took a contract to cut limber from the hush, and make wheelbarrows for the contractors for the Sumner road. After this he took to bush work on Banks Peninsula, and while tharo he met the lady, who, on the death of her first husband, became his wife. From the Peninsula he went to Christchurch, where, with Mr W. Gosling, now a resident of Timaru, he worked in the old Market Place smithy. His mechanical talents, it may be said, were equal to his energy and foresight, and this happy competition of characteristics rendered him admirably fitted to fight the battle of life in a new 'country. While in Christchurch happened an "event which marked the turning point in his life. Sir Thomas Taucred engaged Mr and Mrs Hayhurst as married couple on his station at Ashburton. Here his energy and ability assorted themselves in a congenial field ; he proved “ the right man in the right place,” and rose so rapidly in thi estimation of his employer and in wealth, that Sir Thomas, on leaving Canterbury for a trip Home, sold him the station on terms. His affairs now prosperei exceedingly ; he became sol 9 owner of the station on which ho had been employed ; he obtained land in the Mackenzie Country and about Temuka. After many successful ventures he settled down at the latter place, added to his possessions there, and formed the well-known Greenhayes Estate, which, it has been said, has an annual rent-roll of some £SOOO. Early in 1859, Mr and Mrs Hayhurst paid a visit to the Old Country. Up to this/ime, it may be remarked, nono of their children had lived longer than a few months. Iu September, 1860, they left England on their return voyage in the Chile, Captain 1 urnbull, Mrs Hayhurst bringing a Miss Murray with her as a companion. During the voyage, on November 16, Mrs Hayhurst bore a son ; he was christened John Turnbull Murray Hayhurst, and~ is the present owner of the Greenhayes Estate. For several years Mr Hayhurst worked hard on his property at Greenhayeß. He then, with his wife and son, paid a short visit to England. A few years later they made another trip, and his son was left in the Old Country to be educated. Some time later Mr Hayhurst went to England alone. He then spent several years away from the Colony, which, however, he visited at intervals. His last return was in ISSS. He applied himself with his usual energy to managing tho affairs of his large property, and in the early part of 1889 he was engaged in superintending the erection of a grain store at Temuka, and of a mill, which had bcGn removed from Milford to the Temuka River. He several times stood waist deep iu tho water directing tho operations, aud is supposed to have received a chill, which had fatal results. At all events, ha was taken seriously ill on Monday. April 1 ; next day it was announced that he was very bad ; on tho Thursday it was reported that he was slightly better j

but on the Friday he died, at the age of Cl years. He was attended by Dr J. S. Hayes, who gave a certificate stating the cause of death to have been ursemia, the duration of his last illness five days, that he had been last seen by his medical attendant on April sth, the day on which he died. The certificate gives,the further information that the deceased was married at Manchester at the age of thirty-two years, to Jane Startup, and that his surviving issue was one son, twenty-eight years of age. Mr Hayhurst’s funeral took place on Sunday. April 7, 18S9, and started from his house on tho Main road, Temuka, where he had been living with his wife. His son, who had married a few years before hi 3 father’s death, lived in the meantime on the Greenhayes Estate, and in course of time took possession of the property under a will signed some years previously. Last year the new owner of the estate was unpleasantly surprised by the arrival from England of a lady who claimed to be the legal wife of the late Mr Hayhurst, and asserted that he was the father of two children, some eight or nine years old,_ who, she said, had been born after the maariage. She claimed the property of the deceased, and made certain representations, which lod ultimately to the issue of an order by the Colonial Secretary for the exhumation of the body.