FATAL FIRE

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20917, 23 September 1939, Page 9

FATAL FIRE

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST DANGEROUS WALL COVERING VILLAGE DECLARED TAPU (Special to Times) TAUMARUNUI Friday The inquest into the deaths of six Maori children who died as a result of burns and shock received while sleeping in a hut which took fire at a native development scheme settlement at Turangi on August 22 was continued at Tokaanu before the district coroner, Mr W. Thomas. The evidence of several Maoris who threw buckets of water on the fire and got the children out showed that the parents, with an infant, slept in a separate hut. One boy was seen carrying firewood to the hut at seven o’clock, and the ffre broke out at 8.30 o’clock. Constable Thornton Smith said he had examined the hut. About 10ft. from the fireplace there was a round hole burned through the wall to Lhe outside. The hole was over the head of a bed, and he was of opinion that the seat of the fire was there. There was no chance of a spark from the fireplace causing the fire in the wall. Hie concluded that the ffre was caused by the children playing with lighted sticks, and that a spark from these ignited the mattress next to the wall. Inflammable Wall Covering The walls were covered with highly inflammable tar paper, and this apparently caught fire and carried the flames quickly throughout the interior, portions of the burning tar falling on the bed and the lloor. The wood structure and the lloor of the hut were only slightly scorched, but all the inflammable paper was burned off the walls and ceiling. The coroner returned a verdict that the deceased all died of shock following severe and extensive burns. The rider was added that the facLs of the case would he brought under the notice of the Minister of Native Affairs, pointing out that huts in the native land development camps were being lined with highly-inflammable material containing tar and likely to endanger the lives of the occupants in case of fire. Three days after the Are the whoie camp of 15 huts was deserted by the Maoris, who have made it tapu, refusing to go near the place again. The camp, now a veritable deserted village, lies about half a mile away from the Tongariro River, near the anglers’ village of Turangi.