HUNT IN BUSH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23780, 7 October 1940, Page 6

HUNT IN BUSH

MISSING PRISONERS STOLEN CAR FOUND WAITAKERE DISTRICT " WIDE POLICE SEARCH - Three messages received from different parts of the Waitakere district yesterday morning started a day-long police drive in hundreds of acres of dense bush and scrub to find the four 3 prisoners who escaped from the Auck- 1 ® land Prison last Tuesday night, and changed the focus of search from the Silverdale-Albany sector, where it had been concentrated since a small Auckland car was found abandoned there on Friday morning". Police cars with radio receivers shuttled to and fro over roads leading in all directions. It was probably the first occasion in New Zealand when tli* police had used radio to help them in work of this kind.

Small Car in Paddock The first message was from Mr/ J. H. Chisholm, of Forest Hill lioad, Niho. tupu, who went from his house into the home paddock at 7.30 a.m. and was surprised to find a small marooncolourcd car stranded there. There was petrol in the tank. He was on his way I

to telephone the police when he was met by Mr. D. M. Parker, a neighbour living on the opposite side of the road, who told him that a few minutes before he went to his garage and found the door olf its hinges'and the ignition lock of his car smashed.

Mr. Parker said the padlock and chain on the garage door were intact, but the double swing doors had been lifted bodily from the hinges on one side and swung clear of the doorway. Someone had endeavoured to start the car- with a screwdriver, but succeeded only in smashing the ignition switch. The petrol tank contained about 12 gallons df spirit. When the police arrived in answer to a telephone message they found that the car left at Mr. Chisholrn's was the one stolen from Mr. H. S. Small's garage at Silverdale on Saturday morning.

Large Force Called Out c c The pace of the search, which had begun very early in the morning, accelerated. Parties of police officers went across to Bethell's, Piha and neighbouring saasid4 places, while others traversed the bush and farms in and around Nihotupu, but when, about two hours later, two young women cyclists told the police they had seen two rough-looking men run into the;'/ bush about two miles from Waiatarua, every available man was called out. ' The story told by tho two women was that at about 10 o'clock they were cycling along the Scenic Drive in the direction of Waiatarua when they saw two men lookipg down the road. As soon as the men caught sight of them they dashed into the bush on the southern side of the drive, and disappeared from view. The two young; women climbed the bank leading to the knoll on which the men had stood, and there .saw several cigarette "butts, some match ends and the starting-handle of a motorcar. It was their belief that the men were two of the escaped prisoners. Combing Difficult Country Under the direction of the superintendent of police, Mr. J. Cummings, an encircling movement was begun from the point where the two men were last seen. Officers at key points stood with binoculars, and until nightfall the searchers continued their task of combing the difficult country which stretched on all sides. Down Qjuinn's Road, for instance, which bears away to the left from the Scenic Drive at its topmost i point, one could see thick bush and ferns right across the valley and to the hills beyond. Mrs. A. P. West bury, of Waima Road, Titirangi, had an unnerving experience just after nine o clock last night, Her husband, who is employed as an electrician at the City Council filter plant, had gone on duty and she and her three children were alone in. the house. She .was aroused by stealthy sounds at the back door. She switched on the light in her bedroom and the sounds ceased, but were heard again soon after the lights were extinguished.

Disappearance of Clothes Mrs. West-bury became alarmed, switched on the lights again and called to a neighbour for help. A police party came shortly afterward and found jemmy marks on the back door. An old blue coat and a pair of check trousers were missing from the washhouse. A concentrated search was immediately becun in the neighbourhood, but the police found no trace of the intruder. \ No further reports had be?n received last night of the two men the young women saw. -If /there were only two, and the other two were not already in the bush when their companions ran away, the task of the police is no enviable one, particularly since it js understood that two of the four wanted men have had considerable experience of bush life, and there are hundreds of acres to traverse in that locality. A Puzzling Feature One puzzling feature of the escape > of these four men is that there ii' nothing to suggest they have brokefl into houses in search of food, although they may have found some tinned food in an isolated hut or summer cottage. At stated periods yesterday oue of the Auckland broadcasting stations sent brief messages of instruction to patrolling cars equipped with receivers, an innovation which greatly helped the organising officers to co-ordinate their efforts and save valuable time.