STILL SUSPENSE.

Evening Star, Issue 19762, 12 January 1928, Page 6

STILL SUSPENSE.

Horn still exists, as w r e write, that the airmen Moncrieff and Hood, who essayed to bo the pioneers of a transtasman flight, may still be alive and well, but it is a case of hoping against hope. Some of the rumors that their aeroplane had been seen were obviously false surmises. That, with the time which has elapsed since any glimpse of it was either seen or imagined, makes cause for the worst forebodings. On the other hand, the two men who claim to have seen a monoplane, not mere lights, at Paekakariki, on the Wellington coast, shortly before 9 o’clock on Tuesday night, persist in their statement, there are further reports of an unusual light being seen at Martinborough, in the Wairarapa, and it seems impossible to believe that all the observers by whom statements have been made can have been deceived by their senses. Captain Kigbt, who but for the luck of the toss would have participated in the flight, thinks that the ’plane probably landed in tho rough country of tho Tararua or Rimutaka Ranges, whore it might be difficult for its occupants, even if they were uninjured, to got in touch with any settled place. For a time they would have no strength to attempt to do so. After more tljan forty hours which they would probably have had without it, sleep, which would naturally bo prolonged, would be their first requirement. It can take a long time to find even foot travellers who have wandered from the track in these mountains, There is the possibility also that the aeroplane was blown off its course, in which case it might reach some even more remote district, such as the west coast of Otago. If tho hearing of signals at 5.22 p.m. on Tuesday is to be accepted, it should have had full time to reach some part of the New Zealand coast before the supply of petrol gave out. Two aeroplanes, supported by tugs, are at present searching, and H.M.S. Dunedin will ho soon a party to the quest. Unfortunately it is a wide area that requires to be searched.