SUPPOSED LOSS OF LIFE AT WESTLAND.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2737, 29 December 1881, Page 2

SUPPOSED LOSS OF LIFE AT WESTLAND.

[By Telegkaph.j Hokitika, Dec. 28, Two Deputy Returning Ollicers, Mr John Allen, storekeeper at Okarito, and Mr L. B. Nelly, late Drill Instructor at Hokitika —left Haast on the 12th inst., and had not reached Paringa on the 20th. A telegram has been received via Wellington, supposed to hare reached there by the steamer Stella, from Mr McFarlane, Resident Magistrate at Jackson’s Bay, stating that a man named Douglas arrived at Haast on the 24th, haring been four days in search of the missing men, of whom he could find no traces. Douglas and McFarlane were to leave again on the 24th to make further search. Mr McFarlane telegraphs the election returns from Jackson’s Bay as Fitzgerald 18; Reid 22. The missing men have the Arawata and Oakura returns with them. It is is feared both have been drowned, as there was very stormy weather on the coast between the 12th and 20th, with heavy rain, and there are no subsidised ferries between Haast and Paringa, but several dangerous creeks when Hooded. Both are married men, with large families.