SPECIAL NOTICE.

New Zealand Police Gazette, Volume LXIV, Issue 24, 14 June 1939, Page 425

SPECIAL NOTICE.

Concealment of Birth. Christchurch. — the 7th ultimo, the dead body of a newly-born male European child was found in the Heathcote River near Ashgrove Terrace and Young Street. There was a small bruise on the back part of the right parietal bone, but there were no other external injuries, except that the umbilical cord had not been tied. The body had apparently been wrapped in an ordinary cotton single-bed sheet which was found in the river a few feet from the body. A post-mortem examination revealed that death had occurred two or three days previously to the finding of the body, that the child was 20f in. long, 7|- lb. weight, between the 9th and 10th month of development, had breathed, and that the cause of death was heart failure associated with haemorrhage of the surface of the brain which the pathologist considers took place during birth and was not due to wilful injuries. Any information regarding the parentage of the child is to be forwarded to the Superintendent of Police, Christchurch.