TAR-STREWN SEASHORE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 686, 11 June 1929, Page 1

TAR-STREWN SEASHORE

EAST COAST DISCOVERY ORIGIN A MYSTERY (From Our Oxen Correspondent) OPOTIKI, Monday. A telephone message received tonight about six o'clock from Mr. W. Walker at Te Kaha stated that a large quantity of tar or similar substance was washed up along the East Coast this afternoon by the incoming tide. The tar is reported to be strewn along a length 10 to 15 miles of coast extending from Te Kaha to Orete Point, which is about 15 miles from Cape Runaway. It is presumed that the tar has come from some steamer passing along the coast, but whether the tar was washed overboard or the vessel was wrecked or foundered is not yet known. No word of any vessel being in distress has been reported. A very heavy sea has been running in the Bay of Plenty since last night. The weather today is unsettled and visibility has been bad, and should a ship have been in distress it would have been impossible to see it from the coast. Oyving to the wide area over which the tar is spread it is considered it must have been washed from some distance out at sea. The deposit at Orete Point is stated to be very heavy, the rocks being heavily coated. It is not known here what vessel carrying tar would be travelling across the bay at the time.