KILLED ON BIT EVEREST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18742, 23 June 1924, Page 7

KILLED ON BIT EVEREST.

SAD FATALITY REPORTED.

TWO MEMBERS OF THE PARTY.

MR. G. L. MALLORY'S DEATH

OTHER VICTIM MR. A. C. IRVINE.

ABANDONMENT OF CLIMB.

By Telegraph—Press Association— .i .■ : ■ . (Received ; 6.5 p.m.) '.■';..] Times—Reuter. .-■... /LONDON. June 21. A message from Delhi states that two ] members of the Mount Everest . expedition, Messrs. G. L. Mallory ,and '-.-, A. C. Irvine, have been killed. The rest of the party are safe. ... .; Information received at Mr. Mallory's home confirms his and Mr. Irvine's death. It is stated that the attempt to climb the mountain has now been abandoned. There are no further details. Mr. Mallory narrowly escaped- death during Brigadier-General Bruce's second expedition in 1922, when he and others •were overwhelmed by an avalanche, seven perishing. When he was a senior boy at Winchester, Mr. Mallory was taken for I an Alpine trip in consequence of a chance remark to >'&• master, That was the beginning of' his career as a climber. Mr. Irvine was one of six recruits to the latest expedition. , He accompanied Mr. Odell in the Merton expedition to Spitsbergen last year, , when he was a member of the sledge party which made the new traverse, He rowed for Oxford in the University boat race in 1920.

The Times, in an editorial, expresses regret at ' the deaths of Messrs. Mallory and Irvine. The writer recalls Mr. Mallory's recent comment: The third time, we walk up Rongbuk Glacier will be the last, for better or for worse." Thus he revealed a prophetic instinct of what the future held in store.

Mr.' George Leigh Mallory, who; is reported to have been killed, was the only member of the party engaged in the effort to climb Mount Everest who had also taken part in the previous attempts. Two years ago, in company with Major E. F. Norton- (who took charge of the present expedition when the ; leader, BrigadierGeneral C, G. Bruce, was compelled to relinquish his post through illness), and Dr. T. Howard Somervell, • Mr. Mallory broke the world's record by climbing to a height of 26,985 ft. Mr. Mallory was also with Colonel Howard Bury in the reconnaissance expedition of 1921. ■ Mr. : A. C. Irvine, of Shrewsbury and Merton College. Oxford, whose death is also reported, was another good climber. Two years ago he rowed two: for Oxford in'the University boat race, and was with Mr. N. E. Odeli a member of the. party, in the last Spitzbergen expedition. Briga-dier-General Bruce referred to Mr. Irvine when the party had been formed, as "the experiment, of. the expedition." : The leader added "His ! record at . Spitzbergen last year and his. really remarkable physique, to say nothing of his reputation as a general handy man, justify the experiment we are making in exposing one of his tender years to the rigours of Tibetan travel." '.'