Search For Brothers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31584, 23 January 1968, Page 12

Search For Brothers

Two brothers spent a night in the open after an unsuccessful attempt to beat a record for a raft trip down the Waimakariri River on Saturday.

The two men, Brian Lawrence, aged 22, of Mount Torlesse Station, and his brother, Owen, aged 18, of Belfast, were reported missing at 11 p.m. on Saturday and a search was started. On January 6, their cousins, Clarence Meiklejohn, aged 29, and his brother, Ronald, aged 32, made the journey from the Waimakariri River gorge bridge to the Main North Road in inflated tubes with

plywood bottoms. It took them nine hours and a half, and they described It as a close thing. After a' series of capsizes and mishaps, the two brothers decided about 4 p.m. they could not beat the record, and gave up, Mr B. Lawrence said yesterday. “We had one boot each and a hat each for footwear. We walked about five or six miles till wb came to the Eyrewell Forest, and then walked along the forest road,” he said. , “About ■ 12.30 a.m. we couldn’t go any further, so we pushed some bratiches together and went to sleep. We woke about 4.30 a.m. and set off again and about a quarter of an hour later met two chaps out rabbit shooting.”

Senior-Sergeant E. S. Tuck said yesterday that the Lawrence brothers were reported missing at 11 p.m., and at 5 a.m. on Sunday a jet boat went up the river to search for them. A constable was also sent to the mouth of the river to search along the beach. At 7.45 a.m. the police were told that the brothers had telephoned from West Eyreton. The jet boat was recalled by radio. Senior-Sergeant Tuck expressed appreciation to Marine Department officials for making the jet boat available and to Mr G. H. Davison for piloting it. “They were woken in the middle of the night, but they did not hesitate to offer their services,” he said.