WIDOW'S SON DROWNED

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4377, 13 February 1922, Page 2

WIDOW'S SON DROWNED

IN THE OHINEMURI. UNPLEASANT COINCIDENCE. FATHER DROWNED 8 YEARS AGO. A pitiable drowning fatality occurred in Paeroa at about 2.30, p.m.' on Saturday, the victim being Charles; Edward Bush, the eight-year-iold soil of Mrs Ellen Bush, a widow, employi ed at the'Criterion Hotel, where she and her son were living. The story of the tragedy is that the boy Bush, with a companion, Leslie Roigard, son of the proprietor of •the Criterion. Hotel, went down upon the bank of the river to play. The unfortunate boy was trying to clamber under a bough of a willow tree, close to the edge of the bank, when he missed his footing and slipped into the river. At this particular spot, about two or three chains below the Criterion Hotel, the bank is steep, and the water about sixteen fleet in depth. He did not rise, and the boy Roigard immediately gave the alarm, but, being Saturday afternoon (statutory half-holiday) there was no one about. The boy Roigard ran upstairs and told his mother pf the occurrence, and she sent him for the Police. In the meantime Mr H, W. Broyd, caretaker of the Ohinemuri Club, ran over and dived in where the boy fell, but owing to the clouded state of .the water# and the water weeds and rubbish, his ifforts to locate the victim were un,i availing. t Constable McClinchy and others were soon on the spot with a boat and,, grappling irons. After wording for about half an hour the (unstable brought the body up on the grappling iron, covered with weeds and rubbish, which are plentiful in the river at this spot, where the mud is very deep. Dr. Little was on the bank awaiting, events, and the body wafe immediate!'/ handed over to his charge. He did everything his skill as-a medical man enabled him to do, but life was extinct. i The body was taken into the Criterion Hotel, where Mrs Roigard made all arrangements needful for the trying occasion. The deceased lad was 8 years and 7 months old, to be precise. 1 It is a; curious and unpleasant coincidence that his father lost his life by drowning in the Waihou River some eight years ago. The boy’s grandmother, on the maternal side, is a resident of Waihi.

.THE INQUEST. The inquest was held at 2.30 on Sunday afternoon, by the District Coroner, Mr William .Wallnutt, Senr.Sergeant O’Grady, of the Waihi Police district, and Constable McClinchy. Mrs Ellen Bush, mother of the child, gavp evidence to the effect that the boy was in the habit of playing on the river bank with the boy Roigard. It was about an-hour between the time she last saw her boy on Saturday ‘and the time she heard of 1 the drowning. Leslie Roigard, aged 10, described how he and the deceased went along the river bank about 2 p.m. on Satun day. Deceased went down by the river edge to pick up some sticks to throw in the river. AN UNHEEDED WARNING. Witness warned him to come away, or he would fall in and get drowned. At that moment deceased fell in, and witness only saw his hat on top of the water. Witness immediately went up and told his mother, and then informed the Police. Deceased slipped into the river feet first, witness added. Dr. Walter Watson Little, medical practitioner, Paeroa,. gave evidence o F having attended the case and attempted resuscitation. Death, was due to drowning. Witness remarked that the filthy river would not improve matters in such a case. Constable John McClinchy, in charge of the police station, Paeroa, gave evidence that lie received in* forihation of the drowning accident at abput 3 p.m. He procured grappling irons and dragged the river at the place where the boy was said to have f.allen in. After dragging from 20 to 30 minutes, the boy was recovered a few yards from the point where the boy slipped in, the depth of! the water being 18 or 20 feet. The spot' where the boy fell in could be located by the marks on the bank where he slid down. Artificial respiration was tried, without effect, willows, river weeds, rubbish, and the filthy state of the river made the matter of rescue difficult. The coroner’s verdict was that deceased met his death by drowning, due to accidentally falling into the Ohinemuri River. Deceased was described as a lad who was bright, full of good spirits, and \of winsome disposition.

A DANGEROUS SPOT. The coroner and police visited the locality of the fatality, ,a representative of the “Gazette” accompanying them. The place is undoubtedly a highly dangerous. one for children to play. The bank is sipping, and consists of shifting pumice sand,- Whicn affords but a very precarious foothold. The exact place where the boy tried to clamber under t a willow to get a stick to throw in the water is on the extreme edge of the bank, and the boy coulci scarcely have passed without a portion of his body being over the bank. With the 'loose pumice sand right to the edge, it would have been remarkable had he not fallen in The bank appears to be ten or twelve feet above the water, and the marks of. the poor lad's feet where he slid down into 18 or 20 feet of water (according to Constable McClinchy’s estimate of the depth) were plainly discernible. The tragedy affords a poignant illustration of the need of a swimming bath a* tached to the school; had su'en a facility existed, it is more than likely that nearly every boy would be able to swim by the time he reached the age of eight years.