MYSTERY ABOUT SCHOOLBOY FOUND NEAR TANEATUA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 45, 30 September 1949, Page 5

MYSTERY ABOUT SCHOOLBOY FOUND NEAR TANEATUA

Mystery surrounds a 14 year old schoolboy who was found wandering along the railway line between Pekatahi and Taneatua by the Whakatane police at about 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Dressed in navy blue shirt and shorts and wearing black socks and shoes the boy gave his name as Harry Kelvin Greer Miller but the police have not received any complaints for his possible disappearance nor have they been able to trace any relatives. A complaint was received by the Whakatane police on Wednesday morning by railway employees at Taneatua that a boy, who appeared to have slept out in the open for a number of nights, was walking along the railway towards Taneatua. When a constable accosted the boy he was found to be carrying a bundle of blankets in a school bag.

He gave his name readily and then said that his father, who was a newcomer to the district and lived two miles north of Edgecumbe, had dropped him at the Whakatane West railway station and told him to walk to Taneatua, six miles away, where he would pick him up later in the day.

Although the police waited at Taneatua throughout the day nobody appeared to meet the boy. He was subsequently examined by a doctor and then admitted to the Whakatane District Hospital. While he was questioned the boy said he had come out of the Auckland Hospital three weeks ago and had just come to live with his father.

The police are making inquiries as to the identity of any relatives but these have so far been unsuccessful.

The boy is about five feet four inches tall and is well built. He has blue eyes and fair straight hair and fair complexion.