SEARCH CONTINUES

Hokitika Guardian, 31 October 1933, Page 6

SEARCH CONTINUES

FQR THE BODY OF MR LAKEY. POLICE' FACED WITH HARD ■ TAJ3K. HUNTLY, October 28. Tim police searchers have new rrace-a the body of Mr Samuel Pender Lakey, upon which the solution of the Ruawaro, mystery is thought to depend. Investigator's have now 'been engaged on the case for 11 days, and the whole time 1 has been packed with activity characterised by great determination. Although there has been no decisive result: the police strongly favour the theory of double murder put forward several, days after Mrs Chrisiobel Lakey was found dead at the farm and .her husband had disappeared. The difficulties of 'the search are immense, for ti has extended beyond; Ruawaro to other districts. The tasx in consequence is becoming an rncrea"ing strain on the 14 officers engaged ay the scene, for they have also to keep the immediate district under dose observation. ~j It is thought possible that Mr; Lakey’s body could have been taken by road to the. Waikato River. There have been, dragging operations near Hunt]y in connection with another case and; more dragging at likely points is expected. So far no particular area can be singled out for a; search in which all the resources of the police can- bo concentrated. At Lake Whangape drag; ' gir.g has. not yet. been, put, in hand, k Cold and blustery winds made the camp at the Lakey farm house even more desolate and uncomfortable to.day. The weather generally throughout the search has. 'bee,n unfavourable. t The officers in charge remain reticent about any results from the proceedings in Auckland, such as the second postmortem examination to determine the cause of Mrs Lakey’s death and: tests of certain articles, for possible blood strains. Superintendent S. Till, who arrived from Auckland to-d,ay and spent some time in conference. with the principal officers, at the camp, said it was unlikely, that a,n indication of tne results of • the test, would be given before the inquest. The matter was important and: finality had not been reached. The superintendent and Chief-Detec-tive Sweeney also visited the Huntly police station in connection, with temporary arrangements at the office mage ■necessary by the accident-yesterday ..*» which Constable Shields lost his life and Constable Robertson was injured. Points more than 20 miles distant from the camp were searched 'by constables under Sergeant Bissett to-day, much of the country covered (remanding rather the services of mounted officers than men o.n 'foot. Detectives All S0 PP, Snedden and Findlay explored .a .Page cave in the limestone 'hills in tne ‘Naike district. They penetrareo naif a mile in and examined' the swiftrunning underground' stream. ■. The intensify of the police search inmore and more the necessity of finding the body. POLICE FIND GUN IN-SWAMP. . HOPEFUL OF, SOLVING MYSTERY. AUCKLAND, October 31. The police, who have, been ..working ■for a fortnight at'Ruawaro, in an endeavour to find the body of 'Samuel Lakey, the farmer who disappeared «t the same time •as his wife, was found, dead with her head in a duck pond, yesterday found a gun in a nearby swamp. This is regarded as an . in)* portent clue to the mystery, and the police worked on till dark, using spades and rakes in the swamp, and resumed soon after daylight.

The ipoPce said they would be hopeful now of the mystery being solved.