BODIES FOUND IN DEBRIS

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 122, 25 May 1928, Page 8

BODIES FOUND IN DEBRIS

CHILDREN DIED IN SLEEP. BROTHER UNABLE TO KELP. DRIVEN AWAY BY DENSE SMOKE. (By Telegraph.—Presss Association.) HAWERA, this day. Alfred Waller, a settler, five of his children and one other child were burned to death at midnight at Ararata, a farming district near Hawera. Those dead are:— Alfred Waller, aged 40. Ruby Waller, aged 13. Ellen Waller, aged 11. Ray Waller, aged 10. Alfred Waller, aged 8. Daphne Waller, aged 6. ' - Charles Parnell, aged 13. The sceno of the tragedy was a fourzoomed cottage, in which three of rooms were used as bedrooms. A. Waller had a family of eight, but his wife and the two youngest children were living in Hawera. The parents of the boy Parnell also reside in Hawera. Peter Waller, a brother of Alfred, lived in a tent a couple of chains from the cottage, and he was awakened about midnight by the sound of crackling timber, ain* he saw the cottage ablaze. The back portion had already been destroyed.

The flames were so fierce and the smoke so dense that he was unable to Set inside.. Ho tried the front door andle, but it was too hot to grip. He saw no sign of life.

A high southerly wind was blowing, and the cottage, which stopd on the edgo of a hill, becamq a veritable furnace.

• A neighbour visited "the family last night, and saw the house at eleven o'clock. No light was visible, nor was there any sign of fire. Among the smouldering embers this morning the remains of three bodies were seen. The othefs were buried ' under the debris.

Waller was in the habit of getting up In the middle of the night and making himself a cup of tea, as he did not enjoy good health.

Later investigations did not throw much light on the tragedy. There is nothing to indicate how the fire occurred. The father usually slept in the front room, as did also the girl Daphne. Two other girls occupied the back bedroom, and in the other front room were two beds occupied by two. boys. The third room was shared by Parnell and the other boy. Mr. Woodhead, the neighbour who visited the family last night, said that when he left the cottage shortly after 7 o'clock a good fire was burning in the Tange. The only light was in the kitchen, from a kerosene lamp on the table. Waller had a small farm and sometimes did odd jobs in the neighbourhood. The remains of all the children have been found. Judging by the position of the bodies, one of the girls and Parnell had moved their bodies, being found just off the beds. The others were lying as Ihey had slept. The remains of the father's clothes were found at his bedside, and his body waa in front of the range.

(The name of the family was first transmitted ,as Waller, but later as Woller.)