TRAGIC DISCOVERY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 13, 16 January 1936, Page 8

TRAGIC DISCOVERY

BODY IN Lin WELL M I sSI NG W ELI J N GTON MA N [ Per Press Association. J WELLINGTON, Jan. 15. After being missed since lunch hour on Tuesday, Robert Witheford, superintendent of the National Provident Fund and Registrar of Friendly Societies, was found dead to-night at the bottom of the lift well in the Dominion Farmers’ Institute building, ou the second floor of which his office was situated. It is assumed that he accidentallv fell down the shaft from an upper floor about the time be was missed. Mr. Witheford was last seen near Lamblon between 1.30 and 2 p.m, in the lunch hour on Tuesday. At the request of the police 2YA broadcast announcements that he was missing. About, a quarter to seven tonight Mr. E. C. Jack, company secretary, and a tenant of the Farmers’ Institute, found the body at the bottom of the passenger lift well. The police, who were informed, had the power to ihe I', ft switched off and removed the body. Air. Witheford was aged 59 and leaver a widow and one son. He was born in Auckland and was educated at Queen's College. After four years' employ in the Bank of New Zealand as a. ledger-keeper, lip joined the Treasury Department in 1901. He opened the first district treasury office in Auckland in 1920. Ju 1926 he transferred to rhe department in which he held his last position. He served in both the South African and Great Wais. an extra head Auckland drew two good shots but Shore, for Hataitai, drew right on kitty. Walker failed in both his attempts to shift it and left the score 20-19 in favour of Hataitai. The Sumner rink, skipped by Barlow, which had beaten some excellent opponents to qualify, failed badly in its first po-l sectional game against Phoenix ( I). H. Thomson, skip > and gave up on the eighteenth head when the score was 33 —15 against it. There was st eadv rain for part of rhe game, which made the already heavy gieon even more difficult. Phoenix owed its win to verv good drawing. Bai low was eliminated bv Maxwell Walker’s rink, later in the day. The rink skipped bv Anderson (Dunedin) had a good win in Ihe morning against Young (R.S.A.. Christ- hurch *. and after a bye in the second round, went on in the third to bent ihe Onehunga rink. (Livingstone, skip . The third playp:s in each rink, Best for Anderson, and Robertson for Livingstone, are well known throughout New Zealand and have th? provincial championships to their credit. Be.*t, last year, won the Otago Centre's champion ■*f rhampions competition in the, colours of ihe Otago Club. Robertson, in 1931-32. was runner-up in the Anstia--lasinn sing’le>s. played in New South Wales, for which there had been 769 entries. 'The game was fairly even, with th? northern team holding a slight advantage in the opening heads. On thp fourtepnth. when the score was 13 —11 in favour of Onehunga. a misjudged shot, with Livingstone's last bowl gave Anderso-n five points and thp lead 16 —13. The Dunedin advantage was onlv short-lived, however, for on nhe next gteen Livingstone’s rink gained three points and the sixteenth head was begun with thp scores 16— all. Anderson was laying two with his last bow| to play on the sixteenth. If he chose to take the risk of driving awav r bowl of Livingstone's he could possibly have put ihs side tour up on ihe head, but he preferred safety and drew to win the head and take the lead 18 —Hi. By good drawing, Anderson’s team increased the lead graduallly until after the eighteenth head the Dunelin link led 20—16. At the nineteenth head. Anderson was lying shot and Livingston, with a chance nf converting the position to a five-point advantage for Onehunga, tried to force the shot bowl back but failed and gave Dunedin another point. Livingstone was five down when the last head began. He was lying two and tried to burst the head by driving to save the position, but both his drives went astray. Two points on th? last head brought the Onehunga total to 18 against 21 for Dunedin. Anderson is now left with two lives and I.ivingstone has only oni.