FALL INTO HOT POOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21225, 4 July 1932, Page 8

FALL INTO HOT POOL.

SHOCKING FATALITY.

SHOP MANAGER DIES.

PULLED OUT UNCONSCIOUS.

TRAGIC END TO A DANCE.

[BY telegraph.—own correspondent.] ROTORUA, Sunday.

Terrible injuries which ultimately proved fatal were received by Mr. Edward Baxter, aged 30, single, when he fell into a hot pool at Whakarewarewa late last evening. Mr. Baxter who yas unconscious when brought, from e pool, was admitted to the King George V. Hospital at Rdtorua, where he died at five o'clock this morning. With a party consisting of another man and three young women, all of Rotorua, Mr. Baxter was attending a Maori dance at Whakarewarewa, and toward the close of tho dance, he left the hall to arrange for supper for the party at the dining room situated about 50 yards from the dance hall. After making the necessary arrangements, he * left the dining room to bring the ladies, and shortly afterwards, Ngatapiri Tonihi, a Maori, heard some other natives crying out that somebody had fallen into a hot pool, which was some six feet from tho door of tho dining room.

Tonihi rushed to the edge of the pool and saw Mr. Baxter lying full length on his back in the water. He managed to get a grip of part of the injured man's clothing and, with assistance, lifted him out of the pool, unconscious. Mr. Baxter was rushed to the hospital, but died about four hours, after admission. It is surmised that after leaving tho dining room Mr. Baxter was trying 'to find tho track leading to the dance hall and tripped over an exposed cold-water pipe running near tho entrance of tho dining room. The pool is only about six feet from the door and the ground slopes sharply down to the edge. An inquest was opened this morning before Mr. S. L. S.M. Evidence of identification was taken and the inquest was adjourned sine die. It is known that Mr. Baxter, who was manager of a shop, came to Rotorua from Auckland about four years ago. Little is known of his relatives, except that he has a sister living in Wellington and that his grandmother resides in, Dunedin, where he was born.