THREE DEAD SNAKES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 48, 12 March 1937, Page 5

THREE DEAD SNAKES

— Preas Agaociation.)

Road Worker's Find Near Pokeno MAY BE SHOWMAN'S

(By Telegrx'aph

AUCKLAND, Last Night. Three dead snakes werq found near the roadsidq in Pokeno by a, man workiog on a cutting that is heing iqade for a new railway bridge. A motorTcar was wreckqd at that spot the night beforq, end jt is thpught that its occupants werq travelling showmen who ! had snakes which' pxay possibfy have been preserved in a bottle among theiT ' propertiqs.,, j The" threq spakes ara thqught to be of the Australian death-adder variety, , nlthqugh the largest is only abput 18 jnches long. Their discovery and a ruoiour that they were qlive when found were quite suffieient te cause coneidqrablo auxipty among residpntS of Pokeno who learned of thq ineident and also , tq be responsible for ap enthusiastic

snake hunt by school children. The two smaller specimens ara about .12 inehes long. They alj have a blsck body with a whitish underside. Wbou they werq fqpnii to be dead s mrioll qf prqsery^tivq was also apparent. At about § q'elpck pn'Tpesday night the prppriqtqr pf a Pokeno garage repeive'd a caii to bring in u cnr whieh had been wrecke4 jnst by tbe cutting, about a mile south of Pqkeno. Its bedywom and running gear had been badly smashed, but the three men whp. WPrq in thq car, who said they wished tp get to Morrinsville as soqb as pos sible, were unhur't. Some luggage that was "brought into Pokeno included gear that has led to the opinion that the men, who 4i5 not leave their names, were travelling showmen, and it is theught. that thq snakqs wore part qf their" equipment;