“Death by misadventure” was the verdict returned by Mr H. Morgan, at an inquest at Timaru on Monday into the death of Wilson Ernest Tregea, a soldier, who was found in a mutilated condition beside the railway line just south of Orari on December 13 Tregea’s body was found by Kenneth Milne, a fireman. Giving evidence at the inquest, G. A. Rance, a soldier, who travelled in the train from Christchurch with Tregea on the date mentioned, said he had fallen asleep at Rakaia. and when he woke up at Oamaru Tregea was missing. The district inspector for the New Zealand Railways Department at Dunedin (Mr W E Wilson) said that as the lavatory chute from Tregea’s carriage had been found beside the track between the station and the place where the body was found, it was probable that he had fallen under the wheels of the carriage at the station, and been struck by this chute. Tregea’s body had been found nearly a quarter of a mile from the station. Marks along the line showed where the body had been dragged, said Constable R. J. Shannon who was called to the scene of the accident. The Coroner found that Tregea died from multiple injuries, received as a result of accidentally falling beneath a railway carriage and being dragged! along the railway line.

PRESS, VOLUME LXXX, ISSUE 24241, 26 APRIL 1944, PAGE 6