LONELY DEATH IN HUT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20314, 23 July 1929, Page 8

LONELY DEATH IN HUT.

AGED .VICTIM OF FLOOD. DWELLING INVADED BY WATER. NEIGHBOUR'S SAD DISCOVERY. [J!Y TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] OAMAItU, Monday. Alone in his hut on tlio banks of the Kakanui Rivor, Mr. William George Copley, aged 70 years, met his death when the flood waters surged into his dwelling during the storm last week. Mr. Copley, who was a familiar figure in and about Maheno, nine miles for Oamaru, was last seen alive in that township last Monday, by the occupant of another hut near his own. lie u : ent home that night | and for the next few days was forgotten, while the river, fed by the snow melting in the back country, swelled into a torrent that swept over its banks and covered (lie low-lying area adjacent. Other hut dwellers left their homes for refuge further afield, but not so Mr. Copley. When, after the floods had subsided, a neighbour scraped the silt from the door of the hut and entered, he found he was too late to be of any assistance. The lonely occupant's body, scantily clothed, lay on the bed, which was soaked by the flood that had left its marks high up on the walls. Age had robbed him of the-strength to fight off the effects of the cold and wet. As far as is known Mr. Copley had no relatives in New Zealand.