DEATH BY DROWNING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5442, 5 September 1878, Page 3

DEATH BY DROWNING.

(Prom the Wanganui Chronicle, 2nd inst.)

An accident, which there is every reason to apprehend has been attended with fatal consequences to one or two occupants of a punt, happened in the river on Sunday morning. The following aro the particulars supplied to us by the survivor On Wednesday last, at about halijjast nine in the morning, two men, named respectively William Kirby and William Macfarlane, left town in a punt with the intention of proceeding to McDowell’s, at Kaiwhaike, there to obtain a load of firewood. However, the fresh in the river was so great that they were compelled to abandon this project, and they made fast opposite the property of Mr. Smith, above Kennedy’s, where they remained until Saturday morning, when they loaded the punt with twenty-five tons of potatoes, intending to tranship the same into the Manawatu for Wellington. As soon as they had finished loading they started on their return journey, but they very soon found that the fresh was greater than they had counted on, and they soon lost all control over the punt, which was carried along at the rate of about five miles an hour. As they approached the Upokongaro ferry, they observed that the wire was barely three feet above the surface of the water, and Kirby called out to the ferryman to lower it. So great, however, was the speed with which they were being carried along that they were almost immediately abreast of the wire. Kirby instantly took hold of it and endeavoured to lift it over their heads. He succeeded so far that the pant was enabled to pass under it, bnt he himself was carried overhoard, the unyielding wire having slipped out of his grasp and struck him on the chest. On rising to the surface he contrived to catch hold of the rope attached to the wire. The rope gave way, however, and there was therefore nothing for it but to endeavor to save his life by swimming. Glancing round ho caught sight of the punt at some distance going rapidly down the river, bnt there appeared to be no one in it. The thought instantly occurred to him that Macfarlane—who had been at the tiller when abreast of the wire—had also been knocked overboard. He at once struck out, and assisted by the current, overtook the punt and managed to clamber in. Macfarlane was not in her, nor could his mate Bee any signs of him. Immediately after the accident a boat was sent to the rescue by Mr. Kennedy. Before it reached him, however, Kirby was safe, but nothing more , was seen of Macfarlane, and there seems every reason to fear that he has found a watery grave, though it seems strange that ha did not reappear at all after having been struck overboard. Kirby having secured the assistance of a man at - Upokongaro, came bn to town, arriving early in the afternoon, when he immediately reported the occurrence to the police. The missing man is only about twenty-three years of age, and was formerly a seaman on board the Clyde. He had been trading in the punt for about three months. We understand that two brothers and a sister reside in Wanganui