INTENSIVE SEARCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27212, 15 October 1949, Page 6

INTENSIVE SEARCH

POLICE AT MOA CREEK URGE AREA COMBED FOR MURDERER REASSURING STATEMENT TO RESIDENTS, Special Reporter OMAKAU, Oct. 14. Although the public generally has little idea of the progress being made in the investigation into the death of William Fraser Mclntosh, who was found murdered in his woolshed .at Moa Creek on September 28, residents within' the comparatively confined Ida Valley area have been given some indication of the intensive search and research carried out by the police over the past 16 days from the time the first police car arrived at the Poolburn Hotel in the early hours of the morning following the murder up untill the present. Questions have been asked, statements taken and evidence sifted.

Shortly after the first party had established itself at 1 the Moa Creek Hotel, which is about a mile from the Mclntosh homestead, considerable reinforcements have arrived, and for the past fortnight more than 20 police and detectives, including two from other centres, have been in the district. The search for the weapon used .in the murder as well as the quest for other evidence has been going on continuously, and already two special trips have been made to Dunedin with exhibits which might have an important bearing on the case.

Less spectacular but equally important has been the work carried out at the temporary police station alongside the Moa Creek Hotel. Here all the statements taken from residents are filed, and any line of inquiry which shows promise can be immediately checked with the original evidence. < The magnitude of the task is indicated by the size of the present file, which now contains more than 300 statements. This represents hours of travelling and interrogation, for everyone, at least to the knowledge of the police, from Oturehua at one end of the valley to Manorburn dam at the top, has now been interviewed. The country covered includes the long Hill range which skirts the eastern side of the valley and the rugged high country as far back as the old Ida Valley station. Through much of this hill country there is only the barest semblance of a road. The main force has been operating from the Moa Creek area, where several policemen are billeted out. Most of the parties leave from there, but men are also stationed further afield pursuing some particular line of inquiry, the significance of which is known only to the police. In addition to this more local type of work, returns from all parts of New Zealand have to be dealt with, for, as in every major crime, the police net coverg a wide area. ~ For obvious reasons, actual details of progress to, date cannot be given by the police but two statements made recently by Inspector A. G. McHugh, who is in charge at Moa Creek, are significant. These were to the effect that residents within the area “had no further cause for alarm ” and that progress “ generally ” was satisfactory.

Inspector McHugh left for Dunedin this afternoon accompanied by Senior Detective J. Hill (Timaru). They are expected to return to Moa Creek during the week-end. Detective J. C. Russell, who left for Wellington on Monday, returned to the district tonight.