A RECENT FATALITY;

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1804, 10 July 1906, Page 4

A RECENT FATALITY;

Further particulars regarding tbe do lorablo accident which ocourred at Whakarewarewa, losuhing ia the death of a Mao'i named Kapericro, uncle of tbe ; guides Maggie and Bella, show that K-p:-j riere attended a meeting in tho native moet ng bouse, situated in the Maoii reserve at Whakarewarewa, and left there to go to bis wbare about midnight. On Siturday moiniDg, Bella, the guide, peri cived what she took to be human remains lying on the brrikof tbe oookiog poo) kaown as Parikohuru, and at onoe reported the matter. In tbe meantime it had been ascertained that Kaperiere was miseirg, and a diligent search was made. About neon, tbe police and a medical man visited the settlement, when all doubt was set a. rest by tbe doctor pronouncing the rema ns as being tbo-e of a human being. In tte afternoon, portions of clothing, torn to strode by the action of the boiling wat r, catrc to the surface, and were identified as beltn.i g 10 Kaperiere, and tbe woret fears of bis friends were thus realised. Dragging for tbe body was continued on Siturday a> d Sunday, but without ava ; l. Too dreras.d’s where is situated close by tho cock ng pool, and as Friday night was an esceptional'y dark one it is conjec'ured that after leaving the meeting.bouse and walking a short distance ike *urned to go towaids bis wbare, behoving hs bad gone b.-yond the ccoking pool. Evidently he hid mifcnlculated the distance, and took a f ital at; p into tbe pool, which is known to b. 60ft deep. The deceased was fifty years of age, and was well known and liked by fiis people. He had been engaged for sonic time at the Geyser Hotel, and it was fiis absence from there on Saturday morning that led to a search being made for him. He had been in the habit of sleeping at the hotel, but on Friday night, on account of tho inclemency of the weather and the prevailing darkness, he told his companions ho was going to .sleep in his wharc. Maggie Papakura, who lives close to the pool, heard a more than usually loud eruption about 2 o'clock on Saturday morning, and thought it was an earthquake, but subsequent eruptions of Parikohuru convinced her that what she heard was the first eruption of the pool, due to the existence of some foreign body in it. in connection with this pool, it is known that clothes that have been sucked down by the action of the water only come to the surface in shreds. A strange coincidence in connection with the death of Jvapeaiere is that 12 months ago his sou was prevented from jumping into the very pool which has now claimed the father as its victim, and failing in his attempt to take his life in this manner shot himself, death resulting from the wound inllioted. Tapu lias now been placed on the pool, and it will be bold sacred for all timo Thirty years ago a Maori waliinc named Iraka slipped into Korotiotio pool, a furious, boiling-hot spring not i'aa from Parikohuru, and which is the source of the oil bath : it was then a cooking pool, but has since been held sacred.