SAFELY BACK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 133, 8 June 1939, Page 12

SAFELY BACK

BUSHED TWO NIGHTS

TRYING EXPERIENCE

THE MISSING DEERSTALKERS

(Special to the "Evening Post.") PALMERSTON N., This Day. The two young men Francis Corrison Swanwick and Herbert Pickering, of Levin, who went deer-stalking in the Tararua Ranges behind Levin on Sunday and were later reported missing, were discovered by a search party yesterday safe and sound at the Te Matawai Hut, which the men had managed to reach again after an anxious and trying two days and nights spent in the open without sleeping bags or food. Fortunately, they are none the wors° for their experience. The two men set out from the Te Matawai Hut, nine hours' walking distance from Levin, early on Sunday morning, taking only sufficient food for the day, two rifles, and two dogs. At the hut they left their sleeping bags, as well as a tent and their provisions. Swanwick informed a party of Levin and Palmerston North trampers who were also using the hut that they intended returning that night. At noon on Sunday they were seen in the headwaters of the Waingawa River, and when they failed to return to Te Matawai by Monday morning five of the trampers conducted a fruitless search over the ground where they were last seen. The searchers came out to Levin on Tuesday afternoon; the two men had not arrived back at the hut up to 7 o'clock that morning. A party of six trampers, under Mr. N. M. Thomson, of Levin, left at 6 o'clock on Tuesday and arrived at the Te Matawai. Hut at 12.45 yesterday. There they found that the missing men had managed to make the shelter the previous night. RECOGNISED MT. THOMSON. On Sunday the pair were between the Waingawa and Wahine-o-iti Rivers. They found themselves bushed, and had no alternative to spending the night in the open, despite the fact that the weather was shocking* They spent a very miserable time, and in the morning climbed to a ridge, but, as it was blowing hard and still raining, they were forced back into the bush, where they constructed a rough shelter in readiness for spending another night in the open. On Tuesday, although the weather was foggy, they again scaled a ridge where they could only wander at random in the hope of finding some spot they could recognise. Eventually they stumbled on to Mt. Thomson, which they recognised, and so were able to come out to the hut via Mts. Carkeek, Lancaster, and Arete. They reached the shelter at 5.30 p.m., but were in no condition to set out for Levin. Accordingly, they climbed into their sleeping bags and slept till noon yesterday. They were just getting up when the search party arrived from Levin. News of the safety of the men was brought back to Levin by Messrs. Thomson and Webb. They left Te Matawai at 2.15 p.m., doing the double journey in the one day. They came out by the fastest route, Yeates Spur, and the south branch of the Ohau River to thfi confluence, then down the Ohau to the Ohau Hut and on to Levin, where they arrived at 8.30 p.m. The main river was running waist high, and the two were repeatedly swept off their feet, only reaching their destination with the greatest difficulty. They met the other party which left Levin yesterday just before it reached the Ohau Hut, and all returned to Levin together. Messrs. W. Harris, A. Hayward, T. A. Kerslake, and C. Wilkinson, the other members of the first party, are remaining at the Te Matawai Hut while the rescued men are recuperating before making the journey out. They may attempt this today, but it is more likely to be Friday, largely depending on the weather.

Both the missing men suffered from exposure. Pickering is experiencing trouble with his legs.