DEATH OF MRS TASKER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7355, 6 February 1911, Page 4

DEATH OF MRS TASKER

The death spurred early; on Saturday] morning erf Mrs M. A. Tasker. wiaow of the iate Mr John Tasker, - late chief dork of the Police Department, at her residence, Brooklyn, aged futy-six years; The deceased lady, who was a native of Brighton, England, had been a resident of the ‘Dominion . lor forty years. She had been ailing lor some months, but her end, came suddenly.

The la e Mi. s Tasker was well-known in political circles, being at the time cf her death ©silent of the Women's Social and Political League. She was for seven years secretary of the Mount Cook school committee, and was the first woman to bo elected to such a position in the Wellington district. Mrs Tasker Was for a long period president of .the Women's Ecunocratic Union, now amalgamated with the Social and Political League, and was also an active member of Women's National Council of New Zealand, which was earned *-on for a number of years -with marked success. Her late husband predeceased her Iyy five yeairs.. The deceased leaves a familv of seven. The sons are Mes-rs J. M., Tasker, stationmaster. Taiingamutu; and C. B. Tasker, mail G.P.O. The .daughters are Mesdam.es C. T. Ercnstrom (Palmerston A. G. Quartermain (Auckland),' H. W, Hawkins (late, of Auckland), end Misses M. E. .Tasker (telephone exchange, Wellington) and K. L. Tasker (Lower Hutt school). AN EXCITING EPISODE A correspondent writes It may not be generally known t.iafc ML 6 Tasker was almost mu.dorei in Gisborne over thirty yea.s vgo. Acting as vompanicn to one of the officers' wives (65th Kcgiraent, I believe), her bedroom was entered by a resident who had be;ome tcmiorarily insane. and his victim, afhrr an almost superhuman effort, was it ft lor her hand smashed, in formal places, wiiich alone s.tved her skud -and her from cert-in death. Ho overing from a prolonged fit of mu/on-cioiisnass, in the early inorni"g, Mrs TasLor heard her mistress's ohiHren crying, and in her night at ire, dren.hed wit > blood. , she crawled into the ocm and found Mis . alsi lef ■ for dead. Unable to use her hands, Mr* Tosher made her w y to a so geant's house, some distance of! The wife s w her in her frigit ul state and p omptly fai'tel. Ms Tasker srnk imeons ious at the —oor. She was removed from taero 'nd for fix Icmcr months lay at dca'h's door. A wound on the windpipe caused her inconvenience until a fe*’' years ago. Only her indomitable will on this and later occasions saved her life. Her assailant reoeived a life sentence.