DEATH OF AN OLD MAN

Taranaki Daily News, 10 February 1928, Page 6

DEATH OF AN OLD MAN

FOUND ON THE ROADSIDE. IDENTITY STILL UNKNOWN. When Mr. H. Rampton, of Avenue Road, was going to work along the Junction Road about 8 o’clock yesterday morning, he saw a man sitting by the Henui bridge, just beyond the borough boundary. "Good morning,” said Mr. Rampton-—there was no reply. “Good-day,” he persisted—still no reply. “Aren’t you well?” he asked, approaching the man. But still there was no reply—the man was dead. He appeared to be about 60 years of age. Constables Palmer and Mitchell, who went out immediately, found a swag and a small billy full of water about 100 yards up the road. The body shew. Ino signs to suggest an accident. Examination revealed a small bloodstain by the left ear. Little of any value, and no money, was found in the pockets of the man’s clothes or in the swag. The only clue to his identity consisted of some papers which bore the name of G. Hughes. These comprised a book of rules and a card of membership in the Wellington Carpenters and General Labourers’ Union, the latter showing the last payment made in June, 1926, giving him a clearance up to August 8 of the same year. There was also a card of membership in the New Zealand Labour Party. A postal re-direction notice was among his belongings, issued at Wanganui on February 1, 1928. This notified that there was no correspondence for him at that office on the date mentioned, and that future correspondence was to be forwarded to the Chief Post Office, New Plymouth. A post-mortem examination will not be necessary, An inquest will be opened this morning.