CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2239, 28 January 1897, Page 23

CASUALTIES.

I ' A Maori girl named Tirinai Tainan, aged 17, j svas burned to death at Kawhia, Auckland. A spark from a camp fire settled on the girl'a hiknrere about her shoulder. Waking up and feeling . the fire she started to ran towards the »c». Her clothing soon oaugbt and the dry grass round j her, and in a few seoonds the light clothing she j bad on was all consumed. The unfortunate J girl expired in great agony. In trying to get to J tbe sea through a barbed wire fence she w»b cruelly mangled. The Foxton Telegraph, iv an account of the sad accident in one of the lakes in the Herring- : ton estate, near Foxton, says : — "The day was i hot and some of the young people resolved to ! have 'a bathe. It was not long bsforo Clyde 1 Sawyers, -aged 13, got out of her depth, and her elder sister, Birdie, aged 16, seeing the danger, made for her. In so doing she also got into deop water, and she was &een struggling for her , own life. Alarm and oonsternation now took the j place of pleasure and mirth among the party, and i f he feelings of Mrs Sawyers its she saw her children perishing can b« better imagined than described. Without delay she bad a rope fastened round her waist, and in she ran to save the girls. But even for her the depth of , water prevented &ny repcue being made, and to ' sr.re her life those on shore had to draw her to . tbe bank.- By this time tha girls had #fls- - appeared, aud tbe party were in bitter grief, i ) When the news' reached Foxton, Constable < i Qillespie, Mr J. Collins, and Mr J. Howan j utarted off to the scene of- the accident, whiob ' is tbree miles from the town. They commenced to search for the bodies, and Mr J. Howan's diving soon discovered their -v/her*iboate, in about 12ft of water, and he brought them bo the shore, whence they ware taken to the residence of Mrs Sawyers." I The body of George Laurie, of Waihenga, [ near Martinburoogh, wm found dead on the road on Thumlav. Ifc is believed he had been thrown from his horse and his neck broken. , ( Leonard Cole?, the sou of an old settler in Faloieroton North, was drowned ia the Manawatu River, near Foxton one day last week. . Mrs Kits Donovan, who had an alterea- ; tion with her daughter at ■ Auckland on Thursday last, took a box of matches and a glass of milk to her bedroom, kissed her younj children good-bye, and looked herself in. Affcor -waiting some time the door was broken ia, and she was found lying on the floor unconscious. , She was removed to the hospital for treatment. , gome matoh heads and sediment were found in ■ the glass. A poisoning ace'dent occurred at Hawera on ■ Thursday. A man named Ticklepenny, working in the country, brought home some oatmeal which be found in a barn. Next morning his > wife and a neighbour cooked and ate some of ' the oatmeal. All who partook of it — two j 1 women and five children — were seized with j violent vomiting, and theirposition was critical j for a time, bat they are now' out of danger. Ifc turns out that the oatmeal was mixed with arsenic, and was intended to be used by Ticklepenny's employer to poison rats witb. " Elizabeth! Brian, aged about four, one of the victims of the poisoning accident on Wedneiday, died on Saturday after suffering great J agony. At the inquest a verdict was returned of "Death bom the effects of eating porridge containing arsenic, administered inadvertently, and that no blame was attachable Jto anyone." Bryan's -eldest son has not yet recovered. I A boy named Watson, aged 15 yearn, while : bathing in the Kaiwarra, Wellington, on Friday, • > divod into a poo], ttunned himself, *nd died j ,' before he could be rescued. The pitiful feature of the affair is that his parents are ' away on a holiday tour, and their whereabouts were unknown. A coal miner named William Gfeddis was severely injured by a fall of stone in the Iron I Bridge section of the Coilbrookdale 'mine, Dsnniston, on Thursday. An iron prop used to keep the roof up broke, when a large quantity of stone fell on the unfortunate man, who sustained internal injuries, while the spine is also injured. His mate was an hour digging Geddis out. A man named Ernest Phillips was killed at Cheviot on Thursday through the waggon he j was driving falling over a cutting on the Fort : Robinson-Hurunui road. Tbe man was-aliye j underneath the waggon when discovered, bub when the waggon was removed he was dead. His neck was broken. I Felir Fox, of Hawea Flat, one of the district's most .respected eettlers, was drowned in the i Upper Clatha, near Albertown, on Friday while i • crossing cattle. The cattle refused to be driven j I on to tho punt, and deceased then endeavoured ! to get them across the river by swimming, and lost his own life iv the attempt. A labourer named William Tucker wai admitted to the hospital on (Saturday, from Hyde, suffering from a fracture- of the leg. He was working on the railway at Hyde, and the accident was caused by one of the rails falling i upon him, ■ Johanna Gonriey, aged 15 years, employed as a servant at Wyndham, in a fib of insanity escaped from the house. Her body was found : in the river at Fortrose on Sunday afternoon. The Auckland Gas Company's annual report shows an increased consumption of gas of 22£ per cent, over the previous year. The net profit was £20,406. The directors recommend the payment of a dividend for the past half-year of 7s 6d per share on the paidup shares and 4s lid per share on thesut skid