LONELY DEATH IN HUT

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1929, Page 12

LONELY DEATH IN HUT

AGED VICTIM OF FLOOD.

DWELLING INVADED BY WATER.

By Telegraph—Press Association.

Oamaru, July 22. Alone in his hut on the banks of the Kakanui River, 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 figuie in and about Maheno, nine miles from Oamaru, was last seen alive in that township last Monday, by the occupant of another hut near his own. He went 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 the lowlying area adjacent. Other hut dwellers left their homes for refuge further afield, but not so Mi. Copley. When, after the floods had subsided, a neighbour scraped the silt fiom 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 floor that had left its marks high uo 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.