SEARCH DRAMA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 269, 13 November 1935, Page 7

SEARCH DRAMA.

air RESCUER OVERDUE.

HR. MELROSE FAILS TO REPORT BACK.

tONG FLIGHTS YIELD NO TRACE OF " SMITHY."

United Press Association. —Copyright.—Rec. 11 a.m. MELBOURNE, this day. The Defence Department has received a message stating , lyi. C. J. Melrose, who has been taking part in the search J gj r Charles Kingsford Smith and Mr. T. Pethybridge, is himself thlee hours overdue at Victoria Point. A Singapore message states that the Qantas air liner DHB6 Ift in the morning piloted by Mr. "Scotty" Allen, but later t ned to Alor Star owing to storms. It will remain there overIght before attempting to reach Mergui to search for "Smithy" to-morrow. The R.A.F. flying-boats and Vildebeeste bombers report no success. "I will continue the search till I know it is hopeless," AirCommodore Smith, in charge of the R.A.F. at Singapore, told the correspondent of "The Times" at Kuala Lumpur. "Our gravest fear is that 'Smithy' is down in the jungle either in Burma or Malaya, in which case aerial search will be most difficult. If he flew onto the sea the Lady Southern Cross, with luck, could be floating now," he added. The i flying-boats which searched the Bay of Bengal encountered severe storms. The Associated Press London correspondent understands that Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, before his departure, had almost completed plans to partner Mr. C. W. Scott in the 1936 round-the-world race. ,