A BOY DROWNED.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12482, 8 March 1909, Page 3

A BOY DROWNED.

: Napier, March 7. A boy of eight years of age, named Maurice Edward Hughes, was- drowned in the surf near the southern end of the marine parade on Saturday afternoon. There was a heavy sea on and the boy was caught by the backwash. « At the inquest- Mr S. E. McCarthy, S.M., recorded a . verdict _ of accidentally drowned,. adding the following rider: "That the Coroner desires to call the attention of the proper authorities to the uselessnessof buoys at present provided for life paving purposes. In :lieu of buoys there. should; be provided life saving belts, with at least 200 yards of suitable rope attached thereto:" , V j As a further rider the Coroner .desired to direct-public attention to.tne fact that on viewing the body it was disclosed that the man Hughes, bis wife and three children, lived^n' a one roomed outhouse, not more than ten feet Jong by six-feet wide, which was without ventilation of any kind, me body of the deceased: was laid on a table alongside a sleeping child. .