SUICIDE PACT SUSPECTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 860, 2 January 1930, Page 1

SUICIDE PACT SUSPECTED

Unconscious Woman In Harbour WELL-KNOWN RADIO MAN MISSING POLICE FIND CLUE IN LETTERS ANUMBfe.II of scrawled, lengthy letters written in both pencil and ink and deposited near a bundle of clothing, provide an ominous clue io the disappearance of John Llewellvn Davies, 45 vears of age. manager of Radio, Ltd.. Auckland. The letters, which associate his name with that of Mrs. Julia Cubitt, 35. who was found unconscious on the eastern tide-deflector yesterday morning, were discovered on the waterfront near the Akarana Yacht Club's shed.

I Yesterday and this morning the ; ■waterfront police searched for the missing man, so far without success. Mr. Davies, a well-known Auckland radio expert, resides at No. 4 Taumata Koad. Kdendale. Mrs. Cubitt has been living at the Auckland Institute of Trained Nurses in Liverpool Street. Yesterday morning at S o'clock when Mr. B. E. Beeby, of 15 Mount Eden Road, was in the vicinity, he saw the j body of a woman lying on the tide- j deflector. It appeared to have drifted j there, afterward being left stranded by the receding water. The Queen's Wharf police were in- i formed and the woman. afterward identified as Mrs. Cubitt. was removed : In an unconscious condition to the j Auckland Hospital. CLOTHING FOUND Shortly before 8 o'clock Mr. John Fiimer, of b Stafford Street, Parnell, was walking along the waterfront in King's Drive near the yacht club shed. He noticed a bundle of clothing lying on the ground. When he returned an hour and ahalt later the clothing was still there, and he communicated with the Parnell police, who took charge of the bundle. it included a man's hat and coat, pnd a woman's mackintosh and hat. The letters were written by Mrs. Cubitt and Mr. Davies, and announced that they had entered into a pact to drown themselves. One is timed 12.40 p.m.. and all are lengthy, one in particular extending over several closely-written pages. The handwriting, which is in ink, lead pencil and copying pencil, is distinctive. That of the man is neat f.r.d regular, but the woman's is Scrawled and blotched, particularly toward the end of her message. The letter written by Mr. Davies was addressed to His wife, while Mrs. Cubitt had written to her relatives. The letters stated that

they were in love with each other and “had made a mess of things,” while the ton; of the messages indicated that the affair had been known to outsiders. The man's overcoat of brown tweed has been identified as one similar to that which Mr. Davies has been wearing. The hat is a bowler, and the woman’s coat has been identified as the property of Mrs. Cubitt. Two handbags were also found, one containing personal effects and the other a number of letters addressed to Mrs. Cubitt. MOVEMENTS ON TUESDAY Mrs. Cubitt was found scarcely 100yds from the clothing and letters, but no trace of Mr. Davies was seen. Mr. Davies, who has a wife and one child, left his home at four o’clock on Tuesday afternoon to go to town. Mrs. Cubitt is divorced from her husband. There was one child. Since her divorce she had been living with her parents in Taumata Road, but left home in August to take up her residence at the Institute of Trained Nurses.

It is slated that Mrs. Cubitt and the ] missing man were seen together in the I city on New Year's Eve and the indi-1 cations are that they went together to j King’s Drive after writing the letters. 1 Today Mrs. Cubitt’s condition is serious, and is said to present peculiar features. She is semiconscious and appears to be suffering from a form of general physical and mental collapse. When she was firkt examined after being found it was suggested that she was showing the effects of a drug or poison, but the authorities are not willing to subscribe to this theory. MR. DAVIES'S CAREER i Mr. Davies joined the Post and Telegraph Department as a cadet at j Geraldine about 30 years ago, and ! after specialising in wireless was ap- | pointed to the Government station at Chatham Islands. ’ At the outbreak of the war he went I to Samoa and carried out repairs to I the station at Apia. He was in charge j of the station when the German cruis- ! ers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were j sighted off the island. Mr. Davies took the risk of sending out messages informing Australia and New i Zealand of the presence of the warI ships, and was subsequently awarded j the Croix de Guerre. Returning to New Zealand after the war, Mr. Davies was in charge of the wireless stations at Awarua and Awanni. He resigned from the service about six years ago and took over the position of manager of Radio, Limited, in Auckland.