CONQUEST OF EVEREST

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27075, 25 June 1953, Page 9

CONQUEST OF EVEREST

Hillary-Tensing Controversy ; (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) . LONDON, June 24. A Royal Nepalese plane is flying Tensing Bhctia and his family to Calcutta today, and will get them there five and a half hours ahead of Colonel Sir John Hunt and Sir Edmund Hillary, according to the Katmandu correspondent of the “Daily Express.” He says: “So the carefully-engin-eered campaign to split the Everest conquerors reached a ‘new high.’ Sir John Hunt and the rest of the party are going by regular commercial flight by way of Patna, with a five-hour wait. No Royal plane offer has been made to them. This is the clearest snub yet, and makes it perfectly plain for the Nepalese that Tensing is considered the personal conqueror of Everest. “Since the expedition arrived in Katmandu last week. Sir John Hunt and Sir Edmund Hillary have taken second place and the other members have been almost ignored. At a glittering reception on Monday night, the Prime Minister of Nepal (Mr P. Koirala) called Tensing first and presented him with Nepal banknotes worth £5OO and an elaborate kukri (knife). Sir John Hunt and Sir Edmund Hillary received kukris worth £5.” The correspondent says that Tensing is under police guard because Nepalese extremists have threatened to “beat him up” if he does not issue a state-

ment that he was first at the top of Everest. “Tensing was born in Nepal, and now lives in Darjeeling, India,” says the correspondent. “Both sides are subjecting him to intense pressure to declare his nationality. A reference by Sir John Hunt to Tensing’s role in the ascent as being ‘No. 2’ has pricked the Nepalese and Indian pride. The fact that his other remarks about Tensing were eulogistic is disregarded. “Wild Accusations” “Wild accusations are being made that Tensing has been under British pressure to sign a document declaring that Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man on the summit. They were roped

together, with Sir Edmund Hillary, according to all British accounts, leading. Neither could be seen from below.

“Mrs Tensing declares that her husband will not visit Britain because he will receive no monetary reward for it, and only the honour. “The British climbers will leave Nepal this week under a cloud which none could have foreseen. Young Communist agitators from a certain disguised organisation are exploiting the situation.” The “Daily Express” says that Tensing is a worried and saddened man by threats of beatings. He was visited by Sir John Hunt in his guest house, where he is all but confined. His plainclothes police guard and a senior army officer screen all visitors. “Tensing told Sir John Hunt that he had been offered heavy bribes by Nepalese Communists to make a statement which would discredit Sir Edmund Hillary—who, in fact, w r as first at the top by 10 feet,” says the paper. “Poor Tensing, who admits this version of the climb in talks with the Everest team, has been forced to compromise between telling the truth, which would be bad for his health, and telling an outright lie, which would be bad for his conscience. “So he has given a statement to the Prime Minister of Nepal, saying that he and Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top together. Sir Edmund Hillary, to help Tensing in his difficulties, made a statement for local consumption. This says: ‘When we reached the top Tensing held the flags while I took a photograph of him.’ This cautious statement is true, and yet it neatly avoids the issue raised fanatically by the Nepalese. Sir John Hunt “Distressed” “Sir John Hunt fs distressed and disgusted by the increasing, bitter row over a point which he and the rest of the expedition consider should never have been discussed. “He said: ‘lt is no good going on shouting the truth from the rooftops —not in this part of the world anyway. To do so now will only compel Tensing to deny it and play further into the hands of the Communists and others who are making the most of the opportunity.

“ ‘I am terribly sorry for poor Tensing. He is having an absolutely frightful time, and is very upset about it all. We are most disappointed to hear that he is not coming to London with us. We had hoped to stick together as a team to go to England. Tensing’s decision not to come with us has nothing at all to do with the question of who took the top first—it is quite domestic.’ ” The correspondent says that the decision was made by Tensing’s wife, who is his firm general manager. She has decided that her husband and their two daughters must go home to Darjeeling in India for a month of receptions. The “Manchester Guardian” says in a leading article: “The controversy over Tensing and his part in the ascent of Everest is an absurdity which might, nevertheless, develop into an ugly quarrel if it is not checked. “In a feat like Sir Edmund Hillary’s and Tensing’s, one cannot distinguish degrees of credit. If Sir Edmund Hillary led the way on the unper slopes, Tensing’s high altitude climbing was done on top of his work as sirdar of the porters, which itself made a great contribution to the expedition’s success. If Sir Edmund Hillary was first on top by a few yards, as we believe he was. that is nothing to Tensing’s discredit. They should be honoured alike by all countries which wish to honour them, without jealousy between the nations as there is none between the men.”