MURDER CHARGE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20007, 4 August 1939, Page 7

MURDER CHARGE

HUSBAND ARRESTED DEATH OF MRS. PATIENCE CLAVERLEY. MYSTERY LONG QUEST BY POLICE • (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Arthur John Patience, a public vvioi j k.s employee, was arrested 1 at KaiKoura yesterday on a charge or itaving murdered h'is wife, Harriet Jane Patience. He was brought to cnrisuchuich fast evening to appear in the Magistrates Court, to-day. Counsel tor patience will be Mr. RA. ioung. Mrs. ratience was in her lilty-ninwi .year, tone uvea witn ner nusoana a. oiiiveney jju'duc wonts camp, iron, ,vmoil sne ausappeareia on October a, moo. £>ne is reported to nave been jccn about a octooit mat mgnt covermg up a wood pne at me nut to project it from- rainl, , . , A party of nine from the Chrtstenuren pouce force was sent to oiaveriey on Coroner 24 to searen foi .urs. patience, rney began extensive u.gging over rougn country about tne camp near the sea coast. Aid of Bulldozer Their numbers were increased until iater ai bunaozer was orougrn. in to assist mem in nigging into tne cum anu iturmng over me spoil thrown mom the railway works. As well as digging on the beach the police eoiuued! .me back country near tne uuuement and dragged swamps and streams. i'neir activities by January had extended as far as 20 miies from cuaveriey. A patrol of the sea coast uum me mourn o! the Conway River m Aantoura, a distance ol about 30 miles, was conducted daily for a long period as- it was thought mat the boay ox Mrs. Patience mignt be washed ashore from the sea. On January 20, it was announced that the .police search would be abandoned. The men were withdrawn irom the digging and patrolung operations, but inquiries were continued. On July 20 of this year, the body of a woman was found on me Taratuhi Beach, .about two miles north of Clavenley. It was subsequently identified ito .the satisfaction of the coroner, at the inquest opened in Christchurch, as -the body of Mrs. Patience. Evidence of identification was' given at the inquest by Mrs. Patience’s mother, son and niece.