RECOVERY OF BODY

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 264, 6 August 1942, Page 8

RECOVERY OF BODY

Hazardous Undertaking Dominion Special Service. DUNEDIN, August 4. After operations involving considerable difficulty and not a little danger, the body of Robert Dow, aged 15, a member of a party of Boy Scouts, who fell over a high cliff near Smaill’s Beach, was recovered by a party of police and soldiers from a military camp. At dawn yesterday morning three members of the St. Kilda Life-Saving Club set out by surf boat to examine the rocks at the foot of the cliff from the seaward side. They saw the body lying wedged between two large boulders, but a heavy swell which was running prevented them from landing. Before they had time to report the discovery a party of police and soldiers had seen the body from the top of the cliff. The police communicated with the officer commanding a military camp, who sent a detachment of engineers, along with the necessary equipment. Corporal F. McFarlane volunteered for the difficult task of getting down the cliff, which he succeeded in doing after about 700 ft. of line had been paid out. The cliff at this point is several hundred feet in height and one of the steepest in the locality, and Corporal McFarlane’s feat in reaching the spot where the body lay was a particularly hazardous one. After half an hour’s hauling the body was brought to the summit of the cliff. The police paid a tribute to Corporal McFarlane for his courage and initiative.