OVERDUE TRAMPERS

Northern Advocate, 22 April 1933, Page 7

OVERDUE TRAMPERS

WEEK IN TARARUAS NO CLUES OBTAINED. SEARCH PARTIES OUT. (Special to “Northern Advocate.”’) ' WELLINGTON, This Day.

There are still no signs of the party of three men and one woman who have “been on the Tararua Ranges since last Saturday, and with the very wet conditions prevailing it is feared a serious accident may have occurred. Ail the party, however, are experienced trampers, gnd are well equipped.

The party is comprised of:—

Miss M. Williams, of Wanganui,

Dr. W. B. Sutch, of Palmerston North.

Mr E. Hill, of Aokautere, near Pal merston North.

Mr A. H. O’Keefe, of Wellington.

Last Friday the party left for Carterton, intending to go across the ranges by the Ohau River, traversing the Waidpehu Ridge to the Te Alatawai Hut, on the way to Mount Holdworth, and expecting to come out on the Masterton side on Tuesday morning.. The Te Matawai Hut was reached safely, and about 4 o’clock on Saturday 'morning the party left on the 15-hour!journey to Mount Holdworth. The weather then was fairly clear, but.several hours later a mist came up, and it is thought they missed their, way on the track and did not reach the Mount Holdworth shelter hut that night.- The missing party was equipped with sleeping bags, extra clothing, and had food for two or three days. • Sflpply Cache Intention. It had been the intention of' the missing party to leave some supplies at the Mount Holdworth mountain house, and return for them on Sunday, but it is not known whether they reached there at all. Some members of the Tararua Tramping Club were at the .mountain house on Saturday night, and Until 10 o’clock on Sunday morning, but. when they left the missing trampers had not arrived. The .country between Te- Matai Hut and the mountain house is very raggedy but at present officials of the Tararua Tramping Club feel there is no need for undue alarm, for possibly the trampers are held up by bad | weather or flooded rivers. It is also pointed out that four trampers are missing together," -which is not considered as serious as if one of the party had gone astray. Last night search parties from the club went out. A Masterton message says that today three or four search parties will probably set out for the Tararuas. Equipped with a portable transmitter and receiver, two members of. the Wellington Radio Emergency Corps went with the Tararua Tramping Club’s party last night, and wireless contact was made with a number of Wellington members of the Radio Corps. STILL NO WORD. WEATHER CONDITIONS BAD,

(Special to “Northern Advocate,”) WELLINGTON, This Day.

Early this*morning there was still no word from the missing trampers. The weather conditions are bad, a storm; haying swept the district last evening. Anxiety has greatly increased, .and the search is being intensified on both sides of, the. ranges. Another party ,of searchers., left Palmerston North .at midday.

Miss M. Williams, who is among the four: trampers missing in the Tararua Eanges, is a daughter of Mr. R. F. Williams. Whangarci. . This morning Mr. Williams said that his chief anxiety was that an accident had occurred, otherwise there was not much fear of the party losing thenway, as all were experienced trampers. In a recent letter his daughter, who had done' a great deal of mountain climbing in Central Otago, had stated that the country in the Tararua Eanges was much more difficult, on account of its broken, volcanic nature. Some of the steep scree faces were 2000 feet high, and several of these would have to be negotiated in the present expedition. Mr. Williams said that his daughter had .done a great deal of alpine work, and last season, with a companion, scaled Mt. Messenger under winter conditions, a feat never accomplished before. Recently she had acted as guide to the chief of the Forestry Department, taking him to the most inaccessible parts of the Tararua ranges. Miss Williams, who was dux at the Whangarei High School in 1924, and took her B. Home Science degree at Dunedin University, is a teacher on the staff of Wanganui Technical College.