LONELY LAD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19504, 3 February 1926, Page 7

LONELY LAD

FOUND DEAD ON FARM WITH RIFLE ALONGSIDE. CORONER UTTERS SIGNIFICANT COMMENTS. [Per Press Association] DANNEVIRKE, Feb. 2. An inquest was held at Te Uri by the Coroner. Mr. AV. Dobson, into the death of William James Little, aged sixteen years, who was found dead on the farm of Mr. Arthur Francis Dampney, on Monday evening. Evidence showed that tho lad had been working on the farm since May I. being apprenticed to Mr. Dampney. He was of a quiet disposition and not inclined to mix in company. He was sometimes left alone on the farm. He had his meals in tho kitchen. At Christmas time he was left alone for a. fortnight, but he never complained of being lonely, ami he had written to Mr. Thomas Rowley Rees, managing trustee of the Now Zealand Sheepowners ’ Fund, stating that ho. was getting on very well and liked being with Mr. Dampney. He had intended visiting him this wook. The lad was last seen alive on Friday, when he was loft alone on the farm, and when another employee returned on Monday ho found the lad dead in a plantation near the house, with a rifle alongside. The Coroner found that tho deceased died of a gunshot wound, apparently self-inflicted, and commented that the indications pointed to deceased having become morbid through being lonely. He considered it was not fair that deceased had been left alone during the Christmas period, and there should be 8 regular system of inspection of lads M apprenticed.