HOTEL FIRE TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 256, 29 October 1929, Page 10

HOTEL FIRE TRAGEDY.

MOTHER AND CHILD LOST.

FATHER'S VAIN EFFORT.

SEVERELY BURNED BY FLAMES

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

INVERCARGILL, Monday.

In a desperate attempt to save his wife and child from death, William Trembath was burned about his head, face, arms and hands this morning, when the Carriers' Arms Hotel at Riverton was destroyed, but all his efforts were in vain. The flames spread so quickly through the old building that the 14 boarders had literally to flee for their lives. There was no time to save property or possessions.

Mr. Trembath made his way from the upper floor of the building with two of their children, and Mrs. Trembath took charge of the other child, but the heat, smoke and falling debris proved, too much for her. When Mr. Trembath found that his wife had not followed him and the two children to safety, he made a desperate endeavour to fight his way back into the inferno, but he could not. Later, when-the fire had, reduced the building to smouldering ruins, the charred remains of Mrs. Trembath and the child, Moira, aged five years, were found in a position which showed that the bodies had fallen through when the floor collapsed. The noise of the flaijies and the startled cries of men and women roused the residents of the neighbourhood. Refugees from the hotel who had been unable to save any of their effects or valuables were taken to nearby houses and hotels. There was no wind at the time, and the flames, confined to some extent by brick* walls, shot straight into the air. Had they been fanned to either, side,. adjoining properties could scarcely have been saved. Little could possibly have been done to stop the fire spreading, for in the borough of Riverton no public fire-fighting apparatus is provided. Mr. Trembath 'is well known as an athlete, and is the holder of many trophies, lor running and - other sports,