MISSING WITNESS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20001, 28 July 1939, Page 3

MISSING WITNESS

COURT KEPT WAITING AIA OHI 1; F Pim rA XDE 1) (Special to the Tli-ratil.) WAIROA. tills day. There is one Maori in the \\ airoa district who evidently believes in that erroneous contention that when business interferes with pleasure the on tv thing to -do is to give u.p business. Ho tried it this week and is now convinced that, it is all wrong. He happened to be the principal witness in an inquest -which was set down for hearing the V.'.v-aa comahouse at 10 o'clock on Wednesday. By that time the coroner, coroner's clerk, police and solicitors h—! assembled and everything we..: ready for the commencement of the inquest, whoa it was discovered that the principal witness was missing. A search was then begun. One constable set off in a motor ear to scour the main streets of the borough, while the coroner got busy on the telephone, ringing tac district in which the witness lived and getting a neighbour to travel some distance in search of him. It was not until 10.30. half an hour after the time set down for the inquest, that the mystery of the miss mg witness was solved —lie had been playing billiards. The expressions on the coroner a and police features were anything but pleasant, to the erring one when he finally put in his appearance at the courthouse, and when he had finished giving his evidence ho was verbally chastised by the coroner, who. after informing him that this sort of thing was really not done, added that by way of punishment the witness .would lose his expense.’.