THE RUAPEHU SEARCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20979, 16 September 1931, Page 11

THE RUAPEHU SEARCH.

LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE. ADVANCED BASE NECESSARY. SAVING OF TIME AND ENERGY. BT AKARANA. No game was ever worth a rap For a rational man to play. Into which no accident, no mishap. Could possibly find a way. So wrote Adam Lindsay Gordon, and there are many who agree with him. One has in mind at the moment the recent misadventure that befel a student party on Ruapehu which ended in the loss of one of them. Because of this fatality attention is being paid to the making of regulations for the safety of trampers in the Tongariro National Park, but one imagines that no matter what regulations are made, an occasional misadventure will be inevitable. There will always be the risk, slight though it be, of climbers "going wrong" and wandering in the bush. Even if the slopes are so well sign-posted that it will be impossible for a party to stray long there will occasionally be a need for bushsearching in one part of the Dominion or another, and for that reason I would like to offer some suggestions based on my observations during the recent search in the Ruapehu bush. Of the quality of that search I have nothing but admiration. I believe that the maximum effort under the circumstances was made even though force of numbers on one day in the later stages did not add much to the work already in hand by trained bu6h parties. Superlative Endurance. A point that was overlooked, however, was one which is axiomatic in the military world and that i 6 that an advanced operation requires an advanced base. The final effort of the search was confined to a triangle of torn, thickly-wooded country which is six to eight miles distant from the nearest road—and in this case the distance should be expressed in terms of time and energy, because of the difficulty of the "going." Because of the superlative endurance of the bushmen they were able to stay out for 48 hours, without any shelter to 6peak of and without warm food and dry clothing. But that only adds point to the contention that in all searches of this order the advanced base should be established immediately so that the maximum effort can be made and the minimum amount of time lost in travelling to and fro. Naturally there was the hourly hope that the missing man would be found, but it is now obvious that as soon as-it was determined to concentrate upon a remote area, tents, clothing and blankets, food and cooking utensils should hav e been taken in to maintain the expert force as near as possible to the scene of their labours. Hampering Considerations. It is recognised that in a circumstance of this kind the means of assembling the camp requirements may be limited. There may be no one to give authority for expenditure. Numbers of hampering considerations may arise, but the be6t thing for an organiser or an organising committee to realise is that a wide community will always put itself behind them. A man who takes responsibility in humanity's name need never worry in this country. Such a qamp would require an attendant to cook, dry clothing and maintain a good supply of< hot water. According to the number of men to be maintained, carriers must be employed. It was calculated that it would have taken one man on transport for every six "men in the search area. When an organisation has to create it- - self and everyone is on tenterhooks it is not easy for a systematic campaign to evolve, but one of the lessons of the Ruapehu tragedy is the importance of thinking immediately not only of man-power but of the means of maintaining it on the scene of action.