NIGHT IN THE BUSH

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 198, 19 May 1936, Page 11

NIGHT IN THE BUSH

Children Overtaken By Darkness REFUGE IN HOLLOW TREE By Telegraph—-Press Association. Auckland, May 18. After spending a night in lite bush in the Waitakere Ranges, Tony Worth, aged 15, son of Mr. C. 11. Worth, bank manager at Newmarket, and two girls, Nell and Rae Cameron, a year or two younger, were found shortly after 10 o’clock this morning by a search party in the vicinity of the Nihotupu dam. While stopping at a Waiatarua private hotel in the Waitakere Ranges, the trio went off shortly after 3 p.m. yesterday to climb to a trig station, the highest point in the ranges, about four miles distant. When they failed to return for tea an alarm was raised and a search party scoured the bush unsuccessfully. This morning 25 men well acquainted with the ranges commenced a search shortly after daybreak, being reinforced from time to time by other parties from New Lynn ttnd members of the Auckland Tramping Club and the Alpine Sports Club. About 10 o'clock the searchers' calls were responded to by the missing children, who were found little the worse for their adventure. They said that having reached the trig station more quickly than they expected and seeing the waters of the Nihotupu dam below them, they decided to visit the dam before returning to the hotel. Darkness descended before they reached the dam and after casting around for some time they decided it was hopeless to find a way out of the bush until morning. They settled down for the night inside a big tree which had been hollowed out by tire, huddled together with a fox terrier in their arms. They were not uncomfortable, though they felt the cold, as it was a particularly cold night, and they all were lightly clad. This morning they heard the coo-ees of the searchers, but could not locate the parties in the bush, therefore they decided to follow the course of the creek that runs into the dam. The search party had emergency rations and the youthful trio came out of the bush smiling happily.