GISBORNE TRAGEDY

Hokitika Guardian, 10 November 1930, Page 6

GISBORNE TRAGEDY

SOLVED AFTER. A YEAR

REMAINS IN A LAGOON

GISBORNE, November 9.

A mystery that has been the cause of endless enquiries throughout Australia and New Zealand, in the course of which scores of people, including sideshowmen, were examined, was solved yesterday when a skull and bones, a pair of sandals, and a portion of trousers were found in the Awapuni lagoon, the latter being subsequently identified by Henry Foote as those of his son, Harry Boyd Foote, aged five years and nine months, who disappeared during the afternoon of People’s Day at the A. and P. Show last year.

The hoy was with his mother at the show, some thousands of people being present. He got permission from bis mother to purchase ice cream from a tent near which they were passing, and that was the last scon of him. His loss was reported to the police that afternoon, and extensive enquiries were made. That evening was very stormy, rain coming down in torrents, accompanied by terrific winds.

A bov answering to the discription of the deceased was reported to have been seen by several people in different localities, but. despite every clue pursued by the police, no trace could be found. For days afterwards the police patrolled the rivers nearby and the beaches, and boy scouts undertook a systematic search, and hundreds of the public assisted in every way.

Inquiries were made of all the sideshowmen on the ground, and telegrams were sent to every police station throughout the Dominion, the inquiries being later extended to Australia. As the months passed and no word was received, the whole affair was practically given up as a mystery. On Saturday, a farmer reported to the police that, while out looking for his cows on his property, which is between five and six miles from the showgrounds, he found a. small skull, some bones and a sandal. As at various times, the remains of old-time Maoris have been found in the localities, he was of the opinion that the bones belonged to some early natives of the district. The police, after hearing his story, communicated with Foote’s father, and he accompanied them to the spot, where lie identified the remains of the trousers as’ those worn by his son at the time of his disappearance. / The body was found on a small island near the middle of a. swamp. On each side of the island run small creeks, which are now dry, hut which in flood time are covered deep with water.

The whole story will, of course, never he known, but it is quite feasible to assume that the lad, hv some means, got into a drain or a creek leading into the Waiapaoa River, or even into the river itself, on the night of his disappearance, the body being carried down tile river and up the creek at the side of the island, and remaining there as tile flood waters went down until the remains were found on Saturday.