REPORT DISBELIEVED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 194, 17 July 1937, Page 10

REPORT DISBELIEVED

SIGHTING OF FLARE. FROM MISSING ’PLANE. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received July 17,. 9.25 a.m. NEW YORK, July 16. The Navy Department has no information concerning Mrs Putnam. It does not believe the rumour picked up by Auckland, New Zealand, that her ’plane has been sighted by one of the Lexington’s machines. NEW ZEALAND’S PART. (By Telegraph.—Special to Standard.) WELLINGTON, July 17. The Minister of Defence (Hon. F. Jones), referring to the cabled report that tho New Zealand Government had offered to assist in the search for Mrs Putnam’s ’plane, states that H.M.S. Achilles is now making its island cruise and has reached Honolulu and, in accordance with the general request issued to shipping in the Pacific, had kept a cad-eful look-out during the voyage. Tho Minister is not aware of tho source of the information on which the Auckland published report relating to signals has been based, and tho Post and Telegraph Department has no confirmation of these messages. Ho is inquiring into this matter, because it would appear that some messages picked up from the air by a licensed radio listener have been published in contravention of the conditions of the receiving licenses. To show the danger of publishing unconfirmed reports of this nature, Mr Joneo mentioned what had occurred earlier in the search, when a message alleged to be from the missing ’plane was later proved to be a dramatisation of tho search efforts by what is believed to have been a Continental broadcasting station. Earlier details appear on page 9.