RIVER TRAGEDY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20129, 26 December 1939, Page 12

RIVER TRAGEDY

YOUNG BOY DROWNED HOLE-IN-WALL ACCIDENT NON-SWIMMER DISAPPEARS LAST SEEN BY FATHER Last seen by his father at 11 a.m. yesterday, when playing with other members of a picnic party on the shallow margin of the Waimata River at the Hole-in-the-Wall, Douglas Brown, aged nine, later disappeared and is presumed to have been drowned in the deep bathing-pool which is a feature of the popular holiday resort. Police officers, assisted by members of various picnic parties and also by members of the Gisborne Surf and Life-Saving Cluo, who were called from the Waikanae Beach, searched the river in the locality throughout the afternoon, without discovering a trace of the missing lad.

The boy, the son of Mr. Leicester Brown, of 11 Wellington street, left home with a party at 8 a.m. for the Hole-in-the-Wall. He was not a swimmer, but could support himself in the water for a few strokes. With others of the younger members of his party, he spent a good part of the morning splashing about in the shallows on the edge of the bathing pool, and it is thought that as the tide receded he became bold enough to attempt the crossing of the pool.

He was missed some time after 11 a.m., at which hour his father saw him playing safely on the river’s edge. A hurried search yielded no results, and after a check-up in the neighbourhood the police were called to assist in the search.

The efforts made by the police, and also by strong swimmers who dived into the deepest parts of the pool and followed the course of the river for some distance, were unsuccessful. The assistance given by members of the surf club was greatly appreciated, and it was not until 5 p.m. that Constable J. Heaslip decided to give up further efforts until this morning. Arrangements were made to continue the search to-day with a drag.