THE LYTTELTON TRAGEDY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3526, 11 October 1921, Page 25

THE LYTTELTON TRAGEDY.

C3IRTSTCHUROH. October 5. An inquest, was held at Lyttelton concerning the deaths of Olivine and Maida Dodds, victims of the recent, fatal fire. Evidence was given that the children were put to bed at half-past seven, and that the father and mother went out., leaving the house in charge of a son aged 13 and a companion of a similar ago. The boy discovered the. fire in the pressing room attached to Ills father's workshop, and attempted to ascend the stairs to rescue his sisters, but fell through the staircase under which the lire was blazing. Ihe brigade was hampered in its efforts to rescue by a glass verandah, and was also wrongly directed as to the room occupied by the children The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death, exrressing the opinion that Dodds, jun., and the brigade had done everything possible. Glass verandahs should be, prohibited by statute, and every la o-dorey building should have a liro Ms Dodds, the father of the two children, who lost their lives in the f.vttelton lire, is an ev resident of Dunedin, .and his parents. Mr and Mrs .1. Dodds, a brother, Mr \. S. I .’odds, and a sister, Mrs MTvor, re.-ido in Ihuuslin.