BURNED TO DEATH

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 896, 16 August 1910, Page 7

BURNED TO DEATH

A CHATHAM.ISLANDS .TRAGEDY. OLD SETTLER'S SAD FATE. VALUABLE MANUSCRIPTS, • DESTROYED. .* (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) ' Christchurchj August 15. Captain J. B. Allsopp, of tho steamef Ripple, which returned to Lyttelton yes : terday morning from the Chatham Is- . lands,- reported that on July 27 a fatal fire occurred at the islands, when Mr. Alexander Shand, one of tho oldest settlers at the Chatham Islands, was burned ' to death, in his house. • Mr. Shand, who was a bachelor, sixtynine years of age, lived alone in a fourroomed two-story house a - few hundred . ' yards away from the residence of his brother-in-law, llr. I'. A. D. Cox, with whom he farmed as a partner. He took his meals at Mr. Cox's house, and it was only when he did not come to ■ breakfast as usual that the fatality was discovered. Mr. Shand. was a cripple, and had to get abont with the aid of two sticks. , On the night of July 27 there was '"» . howling southerly gale raging. ■ Mr.. ■ Shand's house took fire, and was completely destroyed during the night, only the chimney being left standing in tho ' morning. The unfortunate man perish- ' ed in the iiames, only the trunk and the skull being found in tho ruins." " - The origin of the fire is not known, but From the position in which the body was,found it is surmised that.Mr. Shand made desperate efforts to escape from the burning building. It is sup- * posed that the gale blew some embers out of the open hearth on to the floor after Mr. Shand, had retired 'to bed. Evidently his escape by the door of his room' was cut off by the flames,- and he ■ made an attempt to get out by' the window, which, however, was too high for him to reach in his crippled condition. . Ah. Interesting Career. ■ . A Chatham Islands correspondent .. writes:—Mr; Alexander Shand was born ■■.. in 1&J1 at Wellington, where his parents ■ -' arrived in' the second ship. He came, to the Chatham Islands in 1854. with his father, the late Mr. Archibald Shand, who" took up the duties' of first resident • magistrate, and arrived at Waitangi ~ : with his family in the brig "Workington, ' without a constable or any means of en-'., forcing, his authority. Mr. Archibald : Shand was ordered aw.iy by the natives, but eventually landed • at Whangaroa, ' and was finally' allowed to reside at Tβ' "Whakuru, at the extreme north-east'end -.';■ of the, island. There were no horses in those- days, and whenever Mr. Shand had occasion to hold a court at Waitangi he had to walk about forty miles to do so. Mr. Alexander Shand shared all the hardships of these rough times with his father, and in 1859 entered into partnership with Mr. F. A. D. Cox in the Whangamarino run, near Waitangi, where he had resided ever since. ' Of. late years ho • had been incapacitated with rheumatism,. but was very active in 'his younger days, and used to ride . ' over hurdles at the local'races. .Hβ was also an excellent shot with the rifle," v having won many matches at .the .local . rifle competitions. He was president and secretary of the Eifle Club from the , first. "He took a leading part in all' i public affairs, , was a member for many years and chairman for a time of the i-nek Committee, and likewise of the Wharf .Committee and Cattleyards Com-: itittee. Mr. Shand ' pave'. more of hi? tiuie to public business than most men . would' feel inclined to give,; and his place will be very .hard to fill in the Chatham Islands. ■Mγ. Shand had .'-been engaged in his spare ■ time for -thoJlast forty years on a history of the Morions, and also on a dictionary of the Moriori language, and-.had just got everything - / connected with this work completed for dispatch to' Now. Zealand. '• Every scrap , of paper" has been destroyed; and the' information is now unprocurable/ all the old people being dead. Mr. Shand ( was n Native interpreter practically all his life, and was recognised- as one of the best Native scholars in New Zealand.