A SOLDIER'S DISAPPEARANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1919, Page 5

A SOLDIER'S DISAPPEARANCE.

thj: mould INQUIEY. By Tilegianli—Pre»« Amnciatim. T>unti!iji, Last \if!it Af I'll rorrt i-i" ; - f .. .• -.;!u !.in' f-.'lii' of Private Mould, it w&a statu! that « returned soldier named Mason reported to the purser of the Maori on January 27 that a man named Burns had leaped overboard. The Union Company's file shows that Mason made, a report about midnight, that the purser reported to Captain Cameron, who at once turned the ship round, and then interviewed Mason Others, also interviewed, had a doubt about the story, and as the night was dark and the wind fresh from the south, and the sea choppy, the ship was put on her course. With so many passengers it was hard to find whether one had gone. Two or three passengers on deck at the time saw nothing. To the captain Mason said the lost man was wearing an overcoat. To the police at Lyttelton he said the man had no overcoat. From these and other discrepancies it was thought that Mason, who was suffering from shell shock, had imagined the story. Subsequently, however, a Btiitcase bearing the initials "B.B." was found in a cabin. There tad been no request to the military for an inquiry.