LATE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 221, 19 June 1928, Page 6

LATE NEWS

huirangi tragedy FURTHER DETAILS NO APPARENT MOTIVE By Telegraph.—Press Association. New Plymouth, June 18. Further details of the Huirangi tragedv (reported in a message on page 10) early this morning show that the circumstances suggest an act of dementia on the part of the elder woman, Jlr. Surrey’s wife, Eleanor Emma Surrey, aged 49. It is stated that for a year or more Jlrs. Surrey had been constantly under the care of a doctor, suffering chiefly from inability to sleep, although the suffering was not noticed to be particularly accentuated on the day prior to the tragedy. She was known to have been considerably exercised in her mind during the last month or so over the effects of insomnia. The family lived, as a rule, on most affectionate terms, and it therefore is surmised that the tragic double fatality could only have been the outcome of the working Of an unbalanced mind. No indication of what the fatal night was to bring was given on Sunday evening. Jlr. Surrey, who himself has been more or less an invalid for three years, retired to bed early and was soon followed by the rest of the household, consisting of his wife, his daughter and his two sons. About 7.30 p.m. Jlrs. Surrey took her husband a glass of water, appearing at the time in her normal state of health and mind. It was the last time he saw hei- alive. Owing to the condition of their health she did not sleep in the same room as he, but with her daughter in another room. The women occupied separate beds. About 1.30 a.m. Jlr. Surrey was awakened by what seemed to be a dull thud and the noise of a woman in distress. On investigation he found tluit Hie door of the room occupied by his wife and daughter was locked. Access Io the room was gained by going out on to the verandah and getting through a window. A candle was still burning on the dressing table and an open book and spectacles lying on Mrs. Surrey’s bed. The daughter was breathing when Jlr. Surrey entered the room, but expired almost immediately. Jlrs. Surrey was dead. The shot-gnu found in Jlrs. Surreys room belonged to her son and was kept in another part- of the bouse.