SUPPOSED CASE OR DROWNING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 93, 22 July 1879, Page 3

SUPPOSED CASE OR DROWNING.

, — »-, It is altnObt beyond doubt that a youth named James Hawkins, iecently in the employ of Mr E. G. Knight, of : Paiftki, has met his death by diowning- It appears that last Sunday, when about leaving home, Mr Knight warned the lad not to go out on the river in a small shell cunne he was desirous of trying. In spite of this warning, however, he appears to have entered the canoe, as it was found J^tovae distance down the river, neai Mr Cook's property, whilst the boy has been missing ever since. There seems every reason for fearing he has be^n drowned. The lad (who was aboiitf 16 years ' of agp, and an orphan) was sent up to Foxton about 2 yean ago, under direction

of the police, having got iuto a scrape lin "Wellington. Yesterday afternoon ' Constable M'Anulty started up tho | river, with the determination of I searching the banks for the body, ; and also to gather any further infor- ; mation obtainable as to the sad I affair. [The above was accidentally omitted from Friday's issue.] FURTHER PARTICULARS. Every effort was made during Thursday and Friday hist by Constable M 'Anulty to find the body, but without success. It appears that on the day when Hawkins was missed, he called out to some children on the opposite bank of the river that he was about to cross, and that they were to watch for him. Some short time afterwards, they saw the canoe floating down the river bottom upwards. It is supposed that some water had got into the canoe, and when the boy i turned to bail out, it capsized, leaving him helpless in the water. The body s nob yet recovered.