WRECK OF A SCOW.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 308, 24 December 1908, Page 2

WRECK OF A SCOW.

MARINE ENQUIRY. ' UGLY INFERENCES. By Telegraph.—Press Association, Auckland, Last Night. A marine inquiry into the circumstances of the wreck of the Kia Ora near Kawau was commenced this aftef>;! noon.

Air. Alays, who represented the .Murine Department, said that Gossett, the sole survivor, had told several contradictory stories. The observations of those who had visited the wreck absolutely discredited the story of Gossett. It was a mass of discrepancies. It was so much so that it would be extremely difficult to arrive at the truth. The vessel should not have been at Kawau at the time Gossett said that she struck. If the other times he had given were correct this would have to lie 'explained away. The story that he and tile Pierrevs clung to a rock for seven hours at night was entirely discredited by the experience of all who knew the "place. The most important that Gossett would have to explain away, said Air. Mays, was that before he told the pressman that the captain had been at the wheel at tire time the scow struck he had told a person that he (Gossett) had been at the wheel at that time in a certain place on the reef. They had reason to know where the bodies of the Pierceys and Young were, lying, and they proposed to ask for an adjournment to have a thorough search made. The case was accordingly adjourned.