MYSTERY OF CAR IN RIVER

Southland Times, Issue 23208, 25 May 1937, Page 9

MYSTERY OF CAR IN RIVER

NO TRACE OF TRAVELLER’S BODY (United Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, May 24. Though almost a week has elapsed* since the car believed to have been driven by Victor Johnson, a commercial traveller, of Wellington left the highway and plunged into the Manawatu river near the Ballance bridge, no trace of the body has been found. The police have been unremitting in their search and have been assisted by several civilians. The latter were thanked yesterday by the Commissioner of Police (Mr D. J. Cummings) who visited the scene. An element of mystery surrounds the accident, because on the afternoon of the tragedy Johnson left Pahiatua for Dannevirke and this route does not necessitate traversing the highway where the accident occurred. The police have been hampered in their search by a lack of knowledge of the hour at which the accident occurred, and by the dirty condition of the river, the swiftness of the current and dangerous whirlpools. The search has been continued for several miles downstream where beds of silt have been found, and it is possible that the body may be buried in one of these or be caught by one of the many snags.