CAPSIZE OF BOAT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20275, 9 April 1934, Page 5

CAPSIZE OF BOAT.

European and Maoris Drowned. FISHING FATALITY. Per Press Association. WANGANUI, April 8. The capsize of a flat-bottomed boat off the mouth of Waitotara River, sometime between Thursday and midnight on Saturday, has resulted in the loss of three lives, one European and two Natives. Those lost were: Thomas Alexander M’Lean, single, aged thirty-five, of Ihupuka Pa, Waitotara. Maketu Wereta, married, aged about thirty-eight, also of Ihupuka Pa. Harold Hakaraia, aged about twenty, residing at the same place. On a journey from Wanganui to Patea on Friday, the coastal vessel Kapuni, in charge.of Captain William M’Kinnon, discovered a flat-bottomed boat floating bottom up four miles out to sea off the mouth of the Waitotara River. The boat, which is nearly fourteen feet long, was takn to Patea and handed to the Customs officials. Its discovery led to investigations which revealed that M’Lean and the two Maoris had proceeded to the mouth of the river on Thursday and had not returned. A search party was organised under the direction of Constable Skinner, of Waitotara, and at midnight on Saturday, the body of M’Lean was found washed ashore near the mouth of the river. The bodies of the two Maoris have not yet been discovered and a search at various points along the coastline is continuing. M’Lean, who has a brother residing in Wellington, was born at Taihape in 1899. He enlisted when sixteen years of age, and went overseas with the thirty-second Reinforcement, winning the Military Medal.