RESCUED FROM FLAMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19050, 22 June 1925, Page 8

RESCUED FROM FLAMES.

CHILDREN'S FEARFUL PLIGHT. THE TAWA FLAT TRAGEDY. TWO HEROIC NEIGHBOURS. MOTHER'S ERROR OF JUDGMENT. {By TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] WELLINGTON, Sunday. Tho story of an heroic rescue was told in detail at an inquest regarding the death of the six-year-old girl who perished in a burning house at Tawa Flat last week. The fire was noticed about a quarter to eight in tho evening. Milton Mexted, who rescued another child, said: "I ran to the house and forced in the back door. The fire was fiercest then in the kitchen. No children were there. I then ran along tho passage toward the bedrooms and called out to the children, but got no reply. I opened the door and went in the right-hand bedroom but saw nothing. I went across to the left-hand bedroom and by the glare of the fire saw something move in the cot. It was ono of tho children, a little girl. I carried her out through the kitchen and back door and handed her to someone outside. The fire was too fierce then to return to the house by way of the kitchen. I broke the front window, but was unable to get in on account of tho smoke. I thought I could hear something of tho deceased child but as the room was full of smoke I could not seo anything." Securing of the Boy. Gordon Staples, who rescued another of tho children, said ho motored to Mrs. Bailey's house and got in through a window. After groping around the room he found the boy Alan in the cot. " I took hold of him and eventually got out, though with some difficulty, on account of the denso smoke." Continuing, witness said: "I searched tho room but did not find anything there except the child I rescued. I was exhausted when I got outside the house, where I was told that the other children were away with the mother." The mother stated that the children left in the house were six, four and three years old. Before leaving for town with the 14 months old child, she gave the children their tea early and put two of them to bed. She went to Wellington by the 4.30 p.m. train, taking the baby with her. When she left there was only a small fire in the range. "I put the matches on the mantelpiece out of reach of the children, and placed tho candles in the corner of the cupboard," said witness. "There was no light in the house when I left." Mother Delayed on Journey. Continuing, the mother said she went to town to consult a doctor, and intended returning by the train which arrived at Tawa Flat at 7.5 p.m. The train from Tawa Flat was held up for an hour at Ngaio which kept her late, consequently she did not see tho doctor because she thought it was too late. There was no other train for her to return by till 11.25 p.m. and before she caught it she heard her house had been burned, " I did not leave tho children with a neighbour because I thought they would be all right," said the witness. "Before I left I hung some. flannel garments across the front of the range. Since the fire I have asked Audrey (aged four) how the fire happened. She told me the deceased was trying to light a candle from the fire in the range and the napkins caught fire. When she was trying to put tho fire out her clothes caught fire, and she ran under the bed. The children got back into the cots. The deceased got under her own bed in tho middle room. That is the explanation they gave as to how the fire originated." The coroner, Mr. W. G. Riddell, said tho mother committed a serious error of judgment. She should have left the children with the neighbours. He found that deceased was burned to death in a fire which destroyed her mother's house at Tawa Flat on June 13.