A MAORI WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIII, Issue 9456, 28 July 1881, Page 2

A MAORI WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH.

Shortly after half-past twelve o'clock yesterday morning a whare at Putiki, inhabited by an old Maori woman named Mitarina, caught fire in some manner which has not yet been explained. The blaze was perceived by Constable O'Connor, who was on his beat on the town side of the river, and also by Foreman Ward of the Fire Brigade. They at once hastened to the spot, but before their arrival the fire had all but burnt itself out. Amongst the debris and embers they found the charred body of a woman, the head and limbs burnt off. Inquiry showed that the whare had been : in the sole occupation of the old woman ■ above named. She was the widow of < the late chief Teretimana, and was blind i and decrepid. The Natives do not, as a rule, treat the aged and infirm with 1 much consideration, and this unfortunate < old woman seems to have had but little ' attention paid to her, and to have latterly led a life of isolation and poverty. Her i only companion in the whare was a dog, J which shared her miserable fate, its < remains being found by those of its mistress. Mitarina was last seen alive at ] noon on Tuesday, when she left the < whare of another woman named Hareta. < I'lie first among the PutiM Natives who ] ?aw the fire was a man named Hakopa. c Ec aroused the people of the village, but 1 jy that time the fire had got a firm hold 1 >f the inflammable materials of which £ ;he whare was built, and it was, in fact, * xnpossible to go close up to it. An in- 1 pest will be held at the Steam Packet * ilotei at twelve o'clock to-d»y. <3