Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1892. Some One is to Blame.

Manawatu Herald, 4 June 1892, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1892. Some One is to Blame.

-♦ The peculiar indifference shown by the Palmerston police to the death of Warrena te Ba needs some further notice being taken of it if only to prevent similar neglect in future cases. It is the duty of the police to notify all cases of sudden death to the Coroner of the district, and to learn from him whether he considers an inquest necessary. The accident occurred this side of the Oroua bridge and was witnessed by certain persons, who conveyed the body to the deceased's residence on the Palmerston side of the bridge. The accident was reported within a very short time of its occurrence to the

police at Palmerston. They have apparently ignored the matter, as if they believed the case was within the Foxton Coroner's district* they never informed him of it, and if they reported the matter to the Coroner at Palmerston, the least they 6oiild have done was to have informed the deceased's friends what decision he ha<i arrived at. Instead of which, we aye reliably informed, they took no notice, and the friends after delaying the burial a day, had the body interred, and they declared he should not be again disturbed. In this case it was not " only a pauper whom nobody owns " but it might have been, and a neglect of duty in one case forces the belief that there would be similar neglect in any case. Police divisions are made to facilitate the protection of life and property, but it seems to have been regarded by the Palmerston police as the reason why they need not trouble themselves at all. The absence of the constable stationed at Foxton should have been known at Palmerston, but if it was not at the time of the accident being reported to them, it should have been shortly afterwards, as the fact having been so reported to them would assure them that it had not been reported elsewhere and surely their duty would have been to have informed the constable here. Had they done so they would have discovered that he was in Wellington when tbey could have taken proper steps to have learnt the opinion of one of the Coroners. The Natives look upon the neglect as a slight as though it little mattered how a Maori died.