Manuka Passenger Dies From Exposure

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 858, 30 December 1929, Page 1

Manuka Passenger Dies From Exposure

DEATH AT TAUTUKU WRECKAGE PILFERED Press Association DUNEDIN, Today. The death occurred at Tautuku yesterday of Mr. William Blackwood Lawson, a passenger on board the Manuka. He contracted acute pneumonia as a result of exposure following the wreck. He was aged 52. Mr. Murray Fuller, who lost many valuable paintings in the wreck of the Manuka, has recovered 12 of them. They found by settlers. Two of the principal pictures found, which were valued at 400- guineas each, were “Sussex Meadows” and “A Provencale Forecourt,” in oil. .Both are by H. H. La Thangue, R.A. Mr. Fuller is disappointed in not finding any of the most valuable works, except La Thangue’s, especially Sir William Orpen’s “Soldiers Resting on the Somme, 1918.” This was one of his most important war pictures painted “on the spot” in France. Sir George Clausen’s, two important w-orks have not been seen nor have Arnesby Brown's. There were four of Brown’s landscapes on board the vessel. Arnesby Brown, R.A., is the most outstanding English landscape painter of the day, and these w-c ls are a great loss. Reports from Papatowai, where Mr. Fuller was staying, state that passengers’ suitcases and trunks are being recovered, opened and the contents removed by unauthorised persons.