DOG MAY GIVE CLUE TO MYSTERY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19237, 26 November 1930, Page 6

DOG MAY GIVE CLUE TO MYSTERY.

ANIMAL FOUND NEAR HOME OF ERNEST BURR. (Special to the “Star.”) GREYMOUTH, November 26. The search for Ernest Burr, the West Coast mill worker, who has been missing from his home at Marsden since November 8, had a sudden and dramatic turn yesterday with the discovery of a dog which is said to have been seen about with Burr wandering half starved in the bush to the north of Marsden. The dog was too weak to travel any distance, so it was brought back to Greymouth for treatment. Expectations are held that when he is sufficiently strong to be used he may provide an important clue to Burr’s whereabouts. A search party went out to-day to explore the country round about the spot. Burr has not owned a dog lately, and this was early commented on as a pity, as a dog’s keen instinct could have been utilised to great advantage. It was remembered yesterday, however. when bushmen reported having seen a stray dog wandering in the bush, that Burr had a way with animals, and that he had often been seen about with dogs belonging to his friends. A search party', including some relations of Burr’s, went out to look for it. The dog was discovered about a mile and a half to two miles from Marsden, in the bush at the back of Maori Creek. He was very weak, and could only* move very slowly. The curious thing that the searchers reported was that the dog would only go in one direction. Attempts were made to lead him away in other directions, but without success. In this one direction, he would make an effort to follow the men. He was not strong enough to go very far, however, and so the searchers carried him to a car and brought him to Greymouth, where he is said to be in the care of the detectives. Bushmen travelling to and from the mill state that the dog has been around the spot for some time. They have thrown scraps of food to him as they have passed in the trolley. It is possible, of course, that the dog had become bushed, and that his inclination to stay about the spot was occasioned by the fact that what food he had had, had been thrown to him there. It is strange, however, that a cattle dog belonging to the district should become lost so near to Marsden and the trolley line. Apart from this, the search yester-; day was without result. To-day the weather is very bad, with heavy rain falling almost unceasingly, but the searchers set out as usual about nine

o’clock. It is their intention to-day to go thoroughly over the ground at the back of the Burr home at Marsden and to extend again in the direction of Maori Creek, covering particularly the ground about where the dog was found.