POLICE SEARCH FOR MISSING FARMER.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 46, 24 February 1931, Page 8

POLICE SEARCH FOR MISSING FARMER.

HOUSE BURNED DOWN, UNEXPLAINED SHOTS. (Special to the 44 Star.”) XEW PLYMOUTH, February 24. Shots heard by neighbours on a farm, the property of Mr Donald Morrison, near Kohuratahi, on Wednesday evening last are unexplained by the residents and the police. It was discovered next morning that Mr Morrison’s house and the adjoining- shed were burned to the ground, that one of the dogs had been killed by shooting, that Mr Morrison -was missing, together with the remainder of his sheep dogs and six of his horses. The police are investigating, but are baffled at present by the confused evidence confronting them. A search was made of the ashes, but it has been established almost beyond doubt that Mr Morrison did not perish in the fire. It is considered that he did not pass through the Tangarakau Gorge after the shots were heard, leaving the unlikely alternative of egress through wild back country. Mrs Morrison and the children were not present at the time, and it is stated that Mrs Morrison is at Napier. Indications are that all the tools and farm equipment in the vicinity of the house and sheds had been collected and placed on the fire, for all such articles are missing.

The property is eighteen miles from Kohuratahi, lying eastwards from Stratford. A former farmhouse was burned eighteen months ago and was replaced by the one destroyed on Thursday.