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Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 16

JOHS TAIAROA'S;;]DrBATjrf4 „ BODY OF JOHN TAIAROA FOUND. Telegraphic information w«6 received ,by|' .Inspecfoiu. l Q'Brieii. t .oiivithe 15th 'from ih&*< , police , constable ' at Karitane- that the bp'dy- j 'of John Taiaroa had.-' beeii .ioundj outside ! Puketirafci* harbour- at""^" quarter past J,l2 ; j •yesterday. ' • ,' Tl , ' '' I , " The body was found floating in the, kelp j near Karitane beach, which i« about 10 j . miles f com Otago * Heads. ■ "•" • After- its long.'j subme'rsidn" in' the' water the" 'body itself.' wari^- unrecognisable, -butita identity" ;wa's : fully established by a pocket-book -found ; in 'one of the coat pockets. The- discovery was made by. the occunants of fch'e Seacliff ." Mental Hospital fishmg-bbat dn fishing iear Boat Harbour. or(I Z'> ', ~ n ) On New. Year's Eve the deceased with • Bonie .companions was returning from Dnnedln by, motor launch to the Maori Kaik, l and on stepping ashore from the boat-Wn ,to . the small landing stage at ' 'tie Kaik" he tripped on the tow-line of the boat and fell "into^tHe "water between the boat and •the -wharf and was, carried out b"y the current. When last - seen-, he was '■ about 20 yards from the wharf, when he called out 'All -right; I am coming in."" A moment later he disappeared, and was not seen or heard afterwards. A- watoh was /kept at the jetty overnight, 'and at daylight •dragging operations were commenqgil' and continued throughout ■ the " day. '„ '„ VV 1 ® body-had been, in the .water 'for' 15 «ays, and must have drifted to where it ffras^ disccveredL ' " ; INQUEST AT". PORT OHALjkERS. - • A coroner's inquiry "was;. heldf^*' at' tbe •yort Chalmers' Gourthduee on the 16th Into the circumstances "surrounding the .•drowning of John_. Tajaroa at tße Head 3 on December 31, 1907. and whose body was •recovered on Wednesday last at Puketiraki. Mr C. C. GraTiam, S.M. (coroner) .presided, and Mr E: Godfred was' selected ac foreman of the iury. Mr Woodhouse was- present to watoh the proceedings on behalf of- the relatives of •deceased, and Mr Irwrn ' appeared for the' crew of the mot&r boat, from which 'defeeased fell. Sergeant" Mullany' conducted *ne proceedings on behalf of the'police. ) ' THE EVIDENCE. • - - George Taiaroa identified the body, of the Heceaeed as that of - Jus brother, John ffaiaroa. On December 31 he was with his prother and some others at -Porjtbbellq. Mr Jt>. Larnacb was orie-''of'j<'fchose' 'present..'About half-past 7 in the^eveninff deceased And Messrs, Cox, Kennedy, '^and Madigan j left by a, motor boat owned by Mr Madigan, ; >en., for the Kaik. > Witness .went hbme?in~ j the cart. Witness, of --hie* own >! loiew- nothings of the 'accident. .-iWien he J Jef t his brother at JPortobeljb he w@~ guite> )sober, as were the"" others in', tKe^boat, so ! fa* as he saw. He identified' the body by She olothes and boots, and -aJso by the con- ; JentS" of a 'pocket-book which *wae in the r Jpoat^ C - , _, ■ - . ! To Sergeant Mullany : He saw the motor ! fcoat leaye Portobello. He also saw the j Jbther three men who were in the bo£ at tthe Kaik shortly after fche accident. He ! Hid not take much notice of their condition, ' lout Mr Cox, who was in the water, was ' Sober. On his way to tl»- tt=;i, t e haJ a

'view ~djl>t!hje Jauncft'^makifejjip t^9!? ax 4? the - wU&rf . ' Tjie" Handling jof jKhe.,boat appeared , to be ail right. The landing was a difficult en e on^acooun^ of 'the "tide. When witness' j r Bfft\'d^yjm' jfche ,jboa,t r ,,was ,hard h against „the | -'landing staged At'-the top, of high [tijde. the j landing was' about three or four, feet _above level oi_a whale, -boat. When the acci- , dent oqcurred^the,; tide., was, about, an, hour off'liigh water. ' Therej-wef^no steps.. deceased was 44- years of age, and was dwidower with six children. • ; Tii M,r Woodhouse: JETis brother was theeldest'''son, of ' the late Hon. ,Mr Taiaroa£J "M.Tj.Ci., 'and was brought' u» at, the Kaik.'<Witness went" to Portobello specially to meet his brother at the letter's request to ■convey him by.pa^t to the.Kaikl,. Deceased,' r'ho^eyer, t nreferre'd, _)to proceed- ,, home. . Py, pp i boat" with' 4 n ie r ' companions. . ' , When Jb* jgot to the scene of the accident, he knew it was his brother who was in trouble:' The landing stage was composed of two eight-inch planke braeketed_.,.togetib.er. At the time of the accident the landing ,stage.,w ( quld be; about sft" above? the' "deck of ttte mot6r' boat. The -tide would be running about* eight mi^es an .-hour ' at that place. This would force 'the boat against the staging and make the landing. even t more difficult.- • » 'To Mp'"lrwin: 'There was rio ladder at' the staging, and this- increased the difficulty of landing." It was practically a gymnastic feat to get from> a iboat- to. the wharf. „To , the JForeman^ i The , jetty (belonged to the Harbour Board, and .was ■ used inconnection ivith the -quarry operations. THE MOTOR BOAT PABTY. Frederick George Cox, clerk, residing at^ Dunedin, said he was in the company, of deceased"~on",De,cember ,3l on, Mr Madigan's motor boat. Deceased had engaged . the boat tb'^take, them' to the Kaik. _They left Portobello, so far as ho could remember, about 8.30 "p.m. '"Those in the boat were Mr Kennedy, Mr Madjgan. jun., deceased; and himself (vtitriess). " They , werej all sober. Nothing occurred ' on the way j down, the # motor" boat' working, perfectly. After arriving at the Kaik witness, was ' the first to_ .land on the jetty. He* had considerable difficulty in getting up from the boat on account of the darkness and the height, the stage was" above the boat. He, how-, ever, knew the landing very well. He wasin the act of tying up the boat when he heard a spla§ h: , He ran ,to the • edge of the' wharf with a line and, called^ out, ''Oh, what - has. happened?" Kennedy - -replied, "Jack has fallen into the tide." Witness jiust got a glimpse of -the deceased as he was , carried,, -through ; under, -the wharf- in , .the [directjon of'PjortnChalmers. fHe< 'Called*: out y j to to -keep _ in, as he-_.was being ; carried out by the .tide. Deceased, replied,. L" It's, /all-right. Geoi^ge, I am coming in." *He, (witness) went into the -water expecting 1 , to grab 'deceased as he came. past. - He did*' not se© him again. He'did not actually see' the accident, v but-^belieyed_ that deceasedbad tripped over .the bow" line ' which he ; (witness) had just'ma"de 'fast. ' *' - " "To the Sergeant: On the way from Portobello they called in at Port Chalmers. i where they were for fully ah hour owinj*. to Madiga'n not being able' to re-start the engine. * Deceased did not leave the boat r during any part of the time. They called ' in because Kennedy wanted some ciga- ' rettes. A couple of bottles of beer were ta-ken «n hoard, but they were not ODen^}

. on the, ?yay down. Taiaroa Jiad no -liquor betw.eeru^the ,-time s o£ r leaving JPortopello and the time of the accident. No drink of any kind wae. consumed oh the launch. They were all perfectly sober. Mr'tWoodhouse : He -did not" see deoeaeed have any drink at all -on the day in question. Mr Madigan was quite oompetent to control the launch^ It waa about 11 p'olock when .they" "made' '-the Kaik, and wrfs very dark indeed. '" / William H. Kennedy, coachmaker, resid; ing at Dunedin, said" he wae in 'company 'with •-deceased' on' December' 31!'- He confirmed the evidene'e given by the previous witnesses." At ' the Kaik hfe' saw Cox go ashore with the bow-line. Witness also -got on to the landing-stage. Deceased was in the stern of the boat, and as he came along- witness 'held -but his' hand to him. 'Deceased said, "It is all right, Ken," and almost immediately "tripped over the bowline and fell overboard. Witness got back into the boat,' .and told/ Madigan to start the "engine; "with i 'the viej^pf 'going after Taiaroa. They did not succeed in getting the engine started: "Henry Madigan, 'jun., boatman, in the employ of his'father, said that on Decemin 'charge of the motor .boat, !rn which 1 were deceased andr^Kennedy and Cox. He had a thorough knoV ledge. of the harbour and had .great experience of motor boats. The . boat worked all right until they got' to Port Chalmers, where something went' wrong' with 4he ' starting gear and .caused al'delay.a I 'delay. After that everything went we'll till they got to the 'Kaik. They approached the landing place head on to" the jetty; 'and made fast. The strong tide jammed them, up against the piles. 'It was quite possible that deceased tripped over -the bow -line," but it was juat as likely that » he slipped on the w.et_, slippery deck. Had 1 .they succeeded in getting the boat restarted he was doubtful if they could have reecued.Taiaroa, the night was 6O dark and ' the current had carried the man so far .' away. ' ' To Mr Woodhouse : He ' carried ' o.ut " the whole of the lighting of- Otago Harbour fox his father. To the Foreman: He carried paddles on the launch, but did not' throw one out: j Be might "have" hit the man on the head j 'had he done so. i -To Mr Irwin : He had heard deceased j call out that he was all right and' was coming in. " • ' i THE DBINK BtTJIOTTB BEFUTED. ! Sergeant -Mullany said that that was the [ | whole of the evidence regarding the aoci- 1 out'/ there' was jah "independent" 'wit- j 'ness present who could speak as to the J condition of the party at Portobello and ' also at the Kaik. ' , ' '.^The Coroner said it wae just as well that they' should : haye 1 " this evidence, as there had been a rumour in Dunedin that- the' men were the worse of drink, and if wrong it 'should be- 'disproved. .,.' Donald Lanarch,'" 'barr'ister-at-law, resid- \ ing in Dunedin,' 'said, that having accepted J an "invitation from Mr John Taiaroa to spend a fortnight with him, he came across | from ' Hooner's Inlet ' on - December 31 ? and j met "deceased at Portobello." He yent to | the Kaik - with George Taiaroa 'by road. i He only saw deceased and- Mr Cox at that time. , There was no question that they wer« Derfectlv sober. At the Kaik he

saw the others after the accident, and they | were certainly all sober then. .- .. _ The Coroner said it had been reported in town that some members of the party had been refused liquor at" the Portobello HoteL He informed Sergeant Mullany « of v this rumour when "he came down, and the sergeant informed him that "he had made inquiries and had been assured>that what had been alleged was not .oorreot. He did not know who went to the hotel, but '-what had happened was that one of themen asked for a^ couple of bottles of liquor, and .the' -barman, who wae in charge,' 'declined to supply them without the authority of the landlady, who was not present. > They thereupon went away, and that, so far as he (Mr Graham) knew, was the sole foundation of the statement that had been circulated. Mr George Taiaroa said that at Portobello his brother wanted two bottles of whisky to take home with him. He ' did not have sufficient money to pay for' them r and the barman wanted him to 'wait until, the landlady came in before -giving the bottles without full payment, i Deceased ' said it did not matter, and came away. The Coroner said it was well' that they should have "that information. It showed on what a slight incident a. 'serious rumour was based. • \. Constable Kidd; stationed at Waikouaiti. ' staled 'that he found the body of deceased in the Waikouaiti River, tied to the. boat ; of Mr -Abernethy, who was in charge- of j the mental hospital fishery. The body was conveyed to > the boat ehed at Karitane.' verdict. > -> i- - The Jury, without retiring, returned a j verdict' of accidental drowning, no blame being attachable to anyone ; - but a■■ rider ! was added expressing the opinion of , the jury- that the Harbour Board should be ; notified that, if possible, some betfceVlahd- ■ ing facilities should be provided at the quarry **arf at Maori Kaik, where ' the accident occurred. . . „ j