THE PRICE INQUEST

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17232, 11 April 1930, Page 11

THE PRICE INQUEST

WIFE CANNOT APPEAR CORONER'S COMMENT "WE WANT SOMEONE TO TALK." (Ver Press Association..) PALMERSTON N., this day. Giving evidence at the inquest concerning the. death of Walter Edwin Trice to-day, Leonard Charles Lee said that on the 'morning of March o, when delivering milk to Price's boose, the garage door was open. He saw a car there with a box projecting out of the back. He had never seen me ear in the same position before. George limes McGregor, solicitor, said he had acted for the deceased lor four ur live years prior to his deatii. About October" last [the deceased spoke of taking out a life insurance policy, one reason being a motor accident which lie had had. A month later the deceased told him he had taken out a policy for £2OOO. The matter arose from au incidental conversation, witness advising him to take out the policy. The witness now knew that the deceased did not pay the premiums, but merely 8 per cent, interest on them, amounting to £7, instead of the £B9 due. In .February last the deceased took out a further £IOOO. The deceased's affairs were not involved, the estimated value of tho estate, not including lite life insurance, being something over £4OOO. Mis annual income was about JtJ6OO. lie was never pressed by a single creditor. Dr. Hunter Will said Mrs. Trice, the deceased's wile, was in such a stale of health she could not appear before the coroner to give evidence. The coroner: Can you give us any indication as to when she will be able to come and give us information'' Dr. Will: She is in a state of silence. The coroner: The difficulty is that the sun is in a slate of silence, too. We want somebody to talk. Dr. Will said Mrs, Trice had a rapidly beating heart, indicating worry. He could not say when she would be fit to appear. She was worried about her son being upset. The coroner: If her buy is upsel he has not shown it so far. We have sus picions that he knows more (ban what lie has said. 1 do not suggest thai Ins statements are untrue. All thai he has said may lie true, hut is it ail? We don't want this to become another Elsie Walker case. We want Mrs. Trice to talk. 1 can adjourn the inquest until she is ready. Mr. McGregor: One of the son's uncles, has pleaded with him to tell all lie knows. The coroner: I think all he lias told us is h ue. but is it all'.' The boy has nothing lo worry about if he makes a '.lean breast of things. We cannot call Mrs. Price to-day. An undertaker, W; K, KeliX, said he found the deceased lying Hat on the back, the left arm resting on the elbow, and the hand outstretched in an upright position. The other arm was extended parallel to the body. After the body had been attended to at the morgue the left arm was left stiff up in the air. George Gilbert Hancox. director of the Technical School, recalled, said that before he heard a shot fired on the night of Trice's death he heard a shriek. The coroner: Why did you not tell the police? Witness: I was nn| certain and reluctant to say I heard ii under the circiunsta nces. The coroner: Will you deny the cry was after the shot .'—No. .Further evidence regarding the position of Trice's arms at the morgue was given by H. S. Robinson. ('. W. Funis, district manager for the A..M.T. Society, said deceased affected two £IOOO policies on December 18, 1929, and another on February 12 last. The premiums on the were not paid by deceased. (Proceeding.)