ORDEAL IN CAVE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 306, 24 November 1932, Page 12

ORDEAL IN CAVE

FARMER SERIOUSLY HURT. HAMILTON, Nov. 23. As the result of a fall of 30ft. from a ledge in a limestone cave near Honikiwi a farmer, Mr Thomas Higginson Bond, aged 52, married, of Teraumauku Road, near Otorohanga, fractured his skull and suffered other injuries. \\ itli a picnic party of neighbours, Mr Bond was exploring the cave which is in a gully at the rear of his property. The party was passing along a narrow ledge above a deep crevice several chains from the entrance to the cave when the ground collapsed under Mr Bond’s feet. He fell down a steep and rough slope on to the rocks at the edge of an underground stream. Six of Mr Bond’s companions experienced great difficulty in reaching the injured man, and only after strenuous exertions were they able to hoist him on their shoulders up the sheer rock face. Daylight streaming through a hole in the roof of the cave assisted the rescuers. The task of carrying Mr Bond over a boulder-strewn track to the mouth of the cave, which is difficult of access, proved arduous, but the injured man, who was semi-conscious throughout the ordeal, was eventually placed on a sledge and conveyed to his home. Mr Bond was admitted to the Waikato Hospital and, although his injuries are serious, his condition is reported to be fairly satisfactory.