"WHEN IS A TRAMPER LOST?"

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 101, 2 May 1933, Page 6

"WHEN IS A TRAMPER LOST?"

(To tb« Etflttr.) Sir,—We thank you-for your excellent tub-leader of yesterday. Moit people will cordially -agree with it. In the present instance, after being six days overdue, somewhere about 150 to 200 person* have been in'some way actively associated in the search for the 'missing tramperg. Many have responded to this work with actual loss in wages as well as incurring cost and considerable inconvenience. At lease two searchers are suffering in consequence—one in hospital. ' Those best able to judge recognise that the .lost party committed one error of judgment after the other, and did not display that degree of experience one should have before attempting such a journey. It was quite realised by the organisers of the search,. mainly', on account of the lapse of time, that, barring serious accident, the lost party had most likely selected' the very worst route they could have done and had elected to. come clown the Waiohine-iti. For this reason a party of searchers were' constantly at Sayers' Hut on Totara1 Flats to render help in the likely event of the missing people reaching there. ' This party no doubt kept a- fire going most of the time in the hut, which is not at all difficult to locate, even from the opposite side of the river. . / Indeed, with five or six other parties searching the locality, it is very difficult to .understand bow the missing people were able to escape detection. 'It .appears from accounts that they were able to get fires going, and it would seem that they had overlooked the fact that a big smoke by day and a good blaze by night is a valuable asset to searchers. It is quite possible that some of the searchers still out may have come upon camps of the missing people, and why they left no directions there as to the time they were vacating it, or what their intention! were; is beyond comprehension. . When first in difficulty at Broken Axe pinnacles it is hard to understand why they did not seek shelter on the leeward side of the range. Had they, by intelligent use of the compasses and -maps, sought a route down the* Mangaterera, or better still a route to the Waingawa (which is one of the easiest rivers in .New Zealand ,to negotiate, and which fact should have been known to them), they would have saved themselves considerable suffering and others anxiety, time, and expense. The present .episode will provide a very good lesson for all trnmpers, and it is to be honed that ft will, not bring into 'disrepute one of the finest and healthiest recreations ' there is.—l am, etc., ■ ' ■ F. W. VOSSELER. President Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand. (To the Editor.) Sir,—-Your, leader of May 1, under the above caption, is most apposite, and your query, "When is a party to.be deemed 'lost' and in need of ' help?"-. very pertinent. With the exception of Miss, Williams, each of the trampers asserts ''we were not lost," or, a* Mr. Hill, the leader, stutes in your paper, "We knew that we were all right." Are there any lessons to be learnt from having' scores of men engaging in a quite unnecessary and unduly arduous -task of ' going out into the 'back of beyond' under very trying' conditions, to say nothing of the waste of time and money? As one who assisted in a minor degree by helping to waste gallons of benzine in conveying searchers to suitable points from whence they might start, to seek those who, were not Mat, I feel that a' pronouncement from Mr. Hill, Dr. Butch, or Mr. O'Keefe would be of value to the community. * . , ' •.',-" Will one, or all of them, advise- the. public: (1) How many days overdue a party must be before it can be considered as 'lost'! (2) Do the member* of the party believe that the search parties in the present instance were unnecessary? ' (3) If the answer to question (2) ia in the affirmative, who ahould be the judge as to whec search parties must set -out for trampers who are overdue? (4) Does Mr. Hill disagree with the views of a "prominent, tramper."—as - stated in your Monday's issue—that it is the duty of any party tin trouble, or delayed by bad weather,"to leave some sort of sign? And (a) how many, if any, of the party which wasn't lost had previously been over the track" to the destination they set out to reach? At* I do not desire publicity, I sign myself • INTERESTED, May 1. [We have received other letter! on the same subject.—Ed.] . ,