FIVE DROWNED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 199, 24 August 1925, Page 6

FIVE DROWNED.

FATHER AND FOUR CHILDREN. CAPSIZE OF A "FLATTIE." OVERTURNED ON THE BAB. MANAWATU RIVER TRAGEDY. (By Telegraplf.—Special to "Star.") PALMERSTON NORTH, this day. One of the most terrible drowning tragedies in the history of this coast occurred late on Saturday afternoon at Manawatu Heads, when, through the swamping of a flattie on the bar a father and four of his cliildren lost their lives. The names are:— Thomas Staff, builder and farmer, Foxton. aged 46. Dulcie Staff, aged 19. Walter Staff, aged 17. Alfred Staff, aged 15. Margaret Staff, aged 14. \ widow and three young cliildren aged two to five are all that remain of the family. The body of the father was recovered yesterday morning. Mr. Thomas Staff was a son of one of the earliest settlers of the Manawatu, and was a highly respected.resident of Foxton. He completed building the flattie on Saturday, and decided to take the boat out for a trial spin on the river Accompanied by hie four eldest children, he commenced the j°u>™y from Foxton about three o clock with the tide running out strongly. A fisherman named Dawson, tending his nets on a bend above the jetty, hailed the rowers as they passed, and received a breezy response, although he expressed himself somewhat anxious at thengoing downstream, because the tide was rapidly running out. Woman's Graphic Story. No one else on the beach saw them until the little craft was passing the spit at the pilot's signal station, near the river's mouth. Here an elderly Maori woman, Mrs. Ward, was gathering nipis. and she was sole witness of the swamping of the boat on the bar. With native genius for narrative and details, the frail old woman told her story. * "At about three o'clock," she said, "I saw the tide going out strongly, and I was very much surprised when the boat came down, making for the bar. It passed about fifty yards away from mc. There was a girl wearing a pink scarf sitting in the bow, two young fellows were pulling at the oars, and the man and another girl, dressed, I think in brown, were sitting in the stern They were still rowing as they neared the bar. "I was very much surprised and afraid, because I knew their danger. The tide was running out swiftly s and the sea was very rough. The Boat Swamped. "I watch them. The first wave strike them. I hear them laugh. A second wave strike them, and I hear them cry out. Then a third wave strike them and swamp the boat. I hear them scream Tielp,' and look again, but see neither people nor boat. I then try to get help but I am an old woman and cannot run very fast, so I take off my white coat and wave it. "There were a few people some distance away, but it was hard to make them understand that a terrible thinjs had happened. The pilot's house is a long way off, but at last I got somebody to go to him. Then I came back with a young fellow to see what wt can do. I ask him for match to lighi a fire, so that if we get anyone frorr the water we might perhaps bring hin round." It was explained that the Maor method of resuscitation was to get smoke into the nostrils to cause sneez ing, thereby finding out whether there was any sign of life. Pilot's Vain Search. In the meantime the pilot, Mr. Larsen, had made the best time possible with his powerful launch, but dusk was gathering as be made the bar, and it was now dead low water, which prevented the launch from crossing the treacherous divide between the river and the open ocean. The pilot, therefore, could do nothing but turn back and wait till morning. Not till some time later was it definitely ascertained that the victims were residents of Foxton. The police were called, but night made search an impossibility. Father's Body Found. At daylight on Sunday morning the pilot had his launch again commissioned, and, with two police officers, made for the southern shore of the river, where they dragged diligently all the morning. Their search was rewarded with the recovery of the body of the father. The rudder, an oai\ the mast and sail of the flattie were also found. The Levin police also participated in the search. Although the story of the one eyewitness suggests ignorance of the river's dangers as the primary cause of the tragedy, those who knew" Mi*. Staff are firmly convinced that he had a .thorough knowledge of its variable moods, having been familiar with them ; since his boyhood. Moreover his friends declare that caution was a prominent trait in his character, a trait i that was strengthened by the fact that some years ago his brother and cousin Manawatu * dlWning * the ti T 'w F°^ tOn hOJS have reas °n to be thankful that they are still alive It was arranged that they should accompany the party, but finally decided to go. Tins tragedy, following so closdv on that of the previous Sunday, in Xl> fn Ur a o n ro aiKl p tWO SOn * in the Oroua :R lV er, just above its confluence with the Manawatu, has revived the river's sinister reputation About 3G years ago, Mr StnfT* brother *nd a cousin named Honore were WdSSS Mr - ThOrn*9 Staff > "volt seven and two girls aged three and i years respectively. and five son's Xr n tennedT B*re8*r e ? that Mrs. CarmontTF^t?^^ 11 ter ° f pany the party in the boJ i !- accom , o;at the las! minute, Uot^'g o decided > ;