STILL AT LARGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24738, 15 October 1941, Page 4

STILL AT LARGE

WEST COAST OUTLAW WIDER AREA SEARCHED SEVENTH NIGHTS VIGIL (0.C.) HOKITIKA, Oct. 14. The hundreds of searchers were as far from finding Stanley Graham to-day as they have been for several days, and to-night when darkness fell the seventh night’s vigil was begun again in a silent Koiterangi. Graham made no appearance last night—or no one saw or heard him if he did. He may or may not come tonight, but if hs does there will be just as many precautions for the safety of the scores of men stationed near the Graham house. Machine-gun nests cunningly placed around the hall, barbed wire entanglements to trip him. and wires cunningly arranged to give the alarm were all ready just at dusk, and as the sun died away over the hills Koiterangi became as silent as the grave. Arsenal at Hall Koiterangi Hall is an arsenal. It is a long, narrow, wooden building standing on uncovered piles. On ground sheets laid in deep pits between these piles men will lie all night watching to see if Graham will come down the road or across the football field edged with blackberries which have not yet been cleared. Everyone holds a different theory in regard to the whereabouts of Graham, and every part of the bush within miles of his home has been visited by patrols, who report back to the radio stations. More men went up Camelback to-day, but found no trace. Parties are also now much further afield. If Graham is not found or does not himself come down for one more visit to those who are looking for him with so little success, there is a vast area of bushel ad mountains which will have to be combed. Some people think that Graham may be on Mount Graham, which was named after his family, one of the earliest and best known in the district. Ability to Live in Bush Even if Graham was believed to be dead the search must go on; but most of the settlers and those who know him do not believe that he is. In regard to his ability to live in the bush without supplies from outside, it is said that he used to be able; to go away on a deer-stalking expedition taking with him only a supply of flour and salt. He could find any amount of food in the bush. The unknown factor now is the extent of Graham’s wounds. They could not have been so bad if he managed to get away the last time he came to Koiterangi on Sunday morning, when, it is believed, he was hit. If he is dead the difficulties of the search will be increased. He may have died in an underground shelter, and the rapid growth of the West Coast bush would soon cover up all trace. The body of one man who died in the bush in this area in the early days was not found for 15 years. Remarkable Organisation The organisation of the search is proceeding apace. The work of the polipe, settlers, Home Guardsmen and territorials is now reaching complete unity, and to-day Post and Telegraph Department linesmen and army men were busily engaged in elaborately equipping all buildings in a radius of a half-mile of the scene of the crimes with temporary lines of inter-communication. The radio communications work of the army signallers has been remarkably effective and successful. Men in such remote and dangerous places as Mr Charles Smith’s hut at the foot of Mount Camelback. which, of course, is now guarded, are at a moment’s notice able to talk to men in the pits at the Koiterangi Hall or to men in settlers’ homes. At night they can talk, but may not move. Even the pits with guns are connected now with an intertelephone system. Another army and police task in cooperation which demands constant plotting is the working out of the angles of fire so that no shooter can possibly have another man in the party in the line of his fire. The most nerve-racking post is a dug-out within three feet or so of the wall of Graham’s house. It is well sandbagged. The condition of the sole survivor of the shootings, Mr George S. Ridley, who is a patient in the Westland Hospital, was reported to-night to be un-. changed, except that he seems to be a little more comfortable. SYMPATHY WITH RELATIVES MR FRASER’S. STATEMENT IN HOUSE (0.C.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 14. Sincere sympathy to the bereaved wives and families of the men who have lost their lives in the tragedies on the West Coast was expressed on behalf of' the people of the Dominion and the House of Representatives by the Prime Minister, Mr P. Fraser, in the House to-night. Mr Fraser said that the men had lost their lives doing their duty faithfully and courageously. Their selfsacrifice deserved to be recorded and would be recorded in the history of this country, as well as in the records of the Police Force. The sympathy of the people and the House also went out to Mr G. S. Ridley, an Education Board employee, who was lying seriously ill in the Hokitika Hospital. “The whole country has been staggered and shocked by what has happened.” Mr Fraser said. “The Government will also be expressing the opinion of every member and the people of this country, when it says through myself that every adequate provision will be made for the relatives and offspring.”

FUNERAL OF VICTIM CONSTABLE TULLOCH BURIED AT AUCKLAND (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Oct. 14. Masses of beautiful wreaths covered the coffin of Constable P. E. Tulloch, a victim of the Koiterangi shooting tragedy, before it left the city this afternoon for burial at Waikumete Cemetery. Among them was one from the Prime Minister, Mr P. Fraser, and Ministers of the Crown, inscribed: “ With deepest sympathy.” Every police district in New Zealand sent a floral tribute, and several from Hokitika and other districts testified to the esteem in which Constable Tulloch was held on the West Coast. The cortege included all senior police officers, 18 sergeants, 130 constables in uniform, and 35 detectives. The service was conducted in a mortuary chapel in the city by Canon R. G. Coates, of St. Matthew’s Church. Large numbers of the general public paid their respects as the funeral passed along Hobson and Pitt streets for Waikumete. CENSORSHIP THREAT DENIAL BY COMMISSIONER (Special) HOKITIKA, Oct. 14. A denial that he had threatened to use the censorship to stop news of the Koiterangi shootings leaving New Zealand was made bv the Commissioner of Police (Mr D. J. Cummings) in a statement. “I have taken no action at all or made anv threat in any dispute with Sfny newspaper reporter that overseas cables will be stopped by me or that I will invoke the censorship,” said Mr Cummings. “You can ring me up at any time about this sort of thing, and I will give you a statement.”