THE MISSING CLIMBER.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20333, 4 September 1931, Page 11

THE MISSING CLIMBER.

SMALL HOPE HELD OUT. HUNDREDS SEARCHING. ADDIS GIVES CLUE TO His» WHEREABOUTS. (I'KXoS ASSOCIATION TEUiliJlAil. i THE CHATEAU, September 3. Practically no hope of finding Warwick Stanton alive is held out. He has now been lost for six days and five nights, and hushmen declare it would be a miracle if he was found alive. The area in which it is known he must be has been narrowed down to a few miles, and as there were 500 men searching it to-day it was improbable that if he were alive he would not have heard .the calls of some of them and have answered. The leaders of the search parties came into the Chateau to-night and saw Harold Addis. He has completely recovered, and was able to give them a clear and definite description of where he left Stanton. As a result of this information it is hoped to find this spot early to-morrow. " . Where Climber was Left. Addis said that after leaving the girls with Graham and Harris he and- Stanton followed a stream, since ascertained to Be a tributary of the Makatote. All day they waded down through tho icy water. At 3.30 Stanton collapsed. Addis said he had.fallen over three times and was utterly exhausted. Addis, although loath to' do so, decided he would have to leave him and try to get help for the sake of the girls, He helped Stanton out of , the stream and took him a few yards into the bush on tho left bank where there was a log covered with lawyer and other vegetation. He left Stanton in a hollow on the opposite side of this log to the river. He would not be visible from the river, declared AddisThis point was not "previously known to the searchers who were under -the impression that Stanton had been left under a log facing the stream and hid been looking for him by. wading down through the stream. Addis was. definitely'able to describe the location, of this spot. Ho stated that half an hour after he left Stanton he was no exhausted himself that he lay down for the night. The following morning he waded down the stream for two hours until he cam© to some forks where the water was running very fast. -These forks are where the base camp i was established last night. He crossed t here and proceeded for some' distance. !■ "down the loft bank of the Makatote j river where he mot a party of searchers. Inflations o t Searchers. _ According to hie story he left Stanton two and a half hours', journey upstream . from the forks. Io bis weak condition Addis could not have walked very fast, and bushmen consider from this he must have left Stanton two miles upstream v from the forks. A party intends working up this bank to-morrow morning, the men deploying and walking a few yards from each other beating ths bush ~ . and in this way it is' considered- they cannot miss the spot. The opinion has been expressed that Stanton recovered after a spell and when the sun broke through the clouds at 5.30 the following morning, which was the first time the sna hftd been seen - since the party was Jest, be would pick up his bearings and try to get back to the. snowline again. Addis considers, however, that Stanton was in such a state he could not recover. There is a feeling that, he died during the nigSfc, and tnat when, the .party finds the lawyer-covered log on the left bank of the stream they will find his body under it. Search Parties Assemble. „ Remarkable scenes were witnessed at Petersen's mill, a few chains below the > Makatote railway viaduct, in the early hours of this morning, when several hundred men assembled and went *nto the bush to join in. the .search for Stanton. . , • At 3.45 the Auckland express ©topped just south of the viaduct and <i tupped 167 men from Taumarunui. Shortlyafterwards a goods train arrived bringing men from Ohakune and llaetihi. Cars, about one hundred of them, brought further men. It was a wonderful example of the spirit and sympathy of the King Country people and their desire to, assist to the'utmost- : A base camp wbb established at the forks, eight mileß up the gorge, and food was carried up there. Largefires . were started and benzine tins of hot tea were available; throughout the dfl-y ■ for the searchers as they arrived, wet, cold, and weary. With such a large number of men operating in little known bush it was impossible to prevent overlapping. Cases of parties working over one another's tracks did occur, but the bush from the viaduct up to the forks was scoured thoroughly. Above the forks parties of experienced bushmen operated. Those organising the search havs de-cided-that these parties of local bushmen have more chance of finding Stanton than anyone, so the volunteer" who were out to-day have been allowed to return to their homes to-night, and only bushmen will be out searching to-mor-row, Many of these bushmen have been out practically since Sunday, and even their iron strength is giving out. Footprints Found. One party led by Mr Berry, of Horopito, which came out of the bush tonight. brought a clue with them. These men were among the 80 searchers who went into the Mahuia Valley this morning. They followed the Mahuia stream up "until they reached the spot where Graham, Harris, and the girls were found. They picked up the tracks of Addis and Stanton, and from there traced them down a tributary of the Makatoto until they came to a steep fcluff which jutted out into the stream. They could not pass around' it, and had to cross'above the waterfalls, and when they picked up the trails again on the other side tjiere was only one pet of footprints. It wan then late in the afternoon, apd as the party had to get out of the bush to-night, no further search wag possible, J : Tjhe party will travel in to this b]uf again tomorrow morning to investigate. Fully 19 men remained in the Maka : tote Gorge to-night.