WAS IT “AUSSIE”?

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21158, 6 July 1940, Page 8

WAS IT “AUSSIE”?

CAT THAT CAME ASHORE DEMONSTRATED FORCIBLY (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) WHANGAREI, Saturday It has not been definitely established whether the cat discovered at Horahora is “Aussie,” which, it was believed, went down when the liner Niagara was sunk. Two days after the Niagara disaster the cat was found asleep in a deserted shed 100 yards over the sandhills. On the beach nearby was a float from one of the Niagara’s lifeboats. It is quite conceivable that the cat made a comfortable voyage oil this or on pieces of driftwood which also came ashore at Horahora. “Aussie” was said to be so tame that he would answer his name, but the Horahora cat demonstrated so forcibly when awakened by his finder, Mr R. McDonald* farmer, of Horahora that he had to be carried in a bag. At the farm house the cat was fed and placed in a box with a piece of string attached to his neck. Ate Through the String After several days in captivity the cat disappeared, having eaten through the string and escaping. Only in some respects does the description given him by Mrs McDonald tally with that of “Aussie.” furnished by a seaman from the Niagara. He certainly was a half-Persian, with typical head and bushy tail of the breed. While “Aussie” was slightly larger than an ordinary cat, Mrs McDonald states that the cat which her husband found was smaller than their house animals, and predominently brown in colour. While she did not think -the back legs were marked with grey and black stripes, or that he was white underneath and on front, she could not be certain on these points as the cat was too wild for handling.