SAD DROWNING FATALITY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10160, 9 February 1911, Page 5

SAD DROWNING FATALITY.

MR J. A. J. MACLEAN'S BODY FOUND. IX THREE FEET OF WATER. A pain i'ul sensation was caused in Musterton at an early hour last evening, when the news spread that the body of Mr John Alexander J. Maclean, the well-known auctioneer of this town, had been found in the Waipona River. It appears that a . native named Haeata was proceeding to his home at Te Ore Ore, and was crossing the river below Columba Road just about seven o'clock in the evening, when he saw a body lying .in the water. He immediately communicated with the police, and Constable- Dunn proceeded to the spot. The body was at once extricated, and was found to be that of Mr Maclean. Constable Dunn endeavoured to induce respiration by artificial means, but without effect. Dr. Archer Hosking was summoned., but could only pronounce life extinct.

The body, which was clothed only in a bathing trunk, was quite cold, and had evidently been in the water for over an hour. The water was only a little over three feet in depth where the body was found, and the indications point to the fact that the deceased was either seized with a fainting fit, cramp, or heart-failure. The clothes-of the deceased, together with a towel, were found on the bank of the river, and his bicycle was beside an adjoining fence. The body was removed to the morgue, and an inquest will be held to-day, before Mr J. T. M. Honisby, District Coroner.

The late Mr Maclean was a single man, thirty-one years of age, and was the eldest son of Mr Lachlan Maclean, a well-known Dunedin auctioneer He had been in business in Masterton between two and three years, and was a warm" favourite with all who knew him. He took a keen interest in Church matters, arid was one of the joint secretaries of the recent fete in connection with St. Matthew's Church. Building Fund. A few ■months' back he underwent an operation for appendicitis, and had hardly recovered from the effects of the shock. The deceased could, not swim, which probably accounted for his selecting a shallow spot in which to bathe. Only the day before his death he remarked to a friend that he .would like a bathe, and yesterday morning he told a comrade that it was a fine day for a swim.