Extraordinary Loss of a Child.

Manawatu Times, Volume IX, Issue 1138, 29 December 1883, Page 2

Extraordinary Loss of a Child.

.. Per Press Association.-*' ' , Invercargill, Dec 29. An'e'xtriEM)rdioary ?r caße ol of a child has occurred here. On Christmas Day Mr Shepherd's (warehouseman at Messrs Gnthrie and Oo'b) family and other friends went to Riverton Beach ip traps to picnic. The beach v is v S v desolate track, backed, by a broad beit J"of moyinjj* w ßMahilßr" ; . ! oif ; returning it was found that Mau3 i^ aged: foujt. years old, a cbild'ot : I^ ' &hepherd*s was missing. ,As there, w;as.r a lapge party of women and children it^as: necessary to drive home to Inverca.r-' | gill with them- Mr Shepherd and one orttwo frjeinds returned- to tke I beach, atfd with the aid oE troopers ■ pearched^ all day yesterday among, ithe- blinding sand drifts, i •'• without avail. If^ steps ,wer v ie taken to ob« taiu the aid of the inhabitants, and ■thos^e^who heard, of the^affeir w;ejpie ; under the lmpresijion the child" haa been; found.. V % his afternoon, .^howV ever,' it transpired ithat the cliild. had not been seen, and several parties were sent out m traps to the beach; vltivas then found that the child had been discovered this inorn^' ing on the edge of a lagoon, about a mile and a half t'rom the beach ? and^idHbeen tj^^hbnie i ;t6- |h%; house* of a person named Hitchcock, who took no immediate steps to allay the alarm, and to stop the search. The child was much cis hausted, yesterday beiogV a yery bleak and squally day, and last night the rain fell cbntinoußlv. Mr Shep;^ heirUhimsdif suffered- cbnsideraijly^ m the search, his eyes being covered/ with blood. shots from the drifting: sand. The missing girj^was fortyfour hoars withput food or shelijer.'