THE MOUAT MYSTERY

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12094, 23 March 1925, Page 6

THE MOUAT MYSTERY

DIGGING IN THE GARDEN BAGS OF SOIL COLLECTED BY POLICE. CROWDS FLOCK. TO SCENE. CHRISTCHURCH, March 21. Detectives were again at the Beckford road bungalow, and six sacks of soil were collected for further analysis. All day the officers, nine in number, under the direction of Chief-Detective Gibson, were digging in the garden, and putting soil through a sieve. Only a- small area was dug; the detectives spent the entire afternoon on a small patch of ground just behind the kitchen of the house. Professor Bickerton (Government Analyst at Christchurch) was in attendance at the bungalow during the greater part of the day, and he directed the detectives in the digging operations. Later a police van drove up to the house, and the bags were taken aboard. Rumours were current in the city that tile body of Mrs Ellen Louisa Mouat, the missing woman, had been found, but this was officially denied. Meanwhile, crowds are flocking to the scene in their curiosity to see the house which has c.aimed to much attention from the police of late. Many people visit the place at night, and men and 1 girls on their way to work call in daily at the bungalow.