THE TE WHITI FATALITY.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 43, 19 August 1902, Page 5

THE TE WHITI FATALITY.

FURTHER DETAILS. Further information ■wittf regard to the death of two natives atsTe Whiti on Sunday from suffocation by charcoal fumes, shows that -when the police arrived on the' scene thfcy found a man'natned Hamuera, about 40 years of age, and a boy, known by the name of Dummy, dead, and another named Piritoa, \*tfh his wife, ii\ an unconsciou* state, broataing pteitortrtisly. The two latter had been brought outside the shed and placed in a tent in the open air to .give them a chance to recover. l'rom Statements made by. Mr. Chesham, on whose land the fatality occurred, It appears that the four Maoris went to the place to indulge in eel-fishing, and that he gave them permission to aleep in a cheese honte, recently built, and e!osely matoh-lined with one small window. The Natives, in order to keep warm, burnt wood in a peiforated oildrum, and placed it full of live enibtfrs in the £hed, waich "was a custom of the natives. Mr. Chi sham warned them of this as being dangerous, but the Maoris said they were used to it. He, did _ no.

see them again until Sunday morning The shed was closed, but he heard lou breathing, of which he took little notic* Later, however, a Maori named Sani from Hurunuiorangi, went over and fine ing the door fast, and henring heav and peculiar breathing insido the shec broke the door in and discovered tw dead and two others very nearly sc One of the latter was Waitai, wife t one of the victims. She is likely >to ri cover, and has been able to take a lil tie milk, but her husband is not expeel «*d to live. There is great excitemen among the Maoris at tho shocking eveni and numbers are gathering for the tanj uud funeral. [BY TELEGRAPH — PRESS ASSOCIATION.] MASTERTON, This Day. At the. inquest on the two native who were suffocated through inhalin carbonic acid gas from an improvise charcoal stove, a verdict was l turned i accordance with the medical evidence. The two other natives who wcro res cued nro progressing satisfactorily.