DOWN MOTU RIVER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18632, 16 February 1935, Page 4

DOWN MOTU RIVER

12 DAYS IN DEEP BUSH OIS BORNE PARTY REAPPEARS DEEP CONCERN ALLAYED SEARCH PARTIES PREPARING Preparations for dispatching search parties to Ihe aid of a party of Gisborne holiday-makers, who had undertaken 12 days ago to descend the Motu River from a point a few miles below Motu village to the sea, were interrupted yesterday afternoon by a telephone message which stated that the holiday partjq had arrived at Maraenui village at the mouth of the river. The party comprised Messrs. Hugh Telford, Victor Caulton, and Cecil Graham, all well-known residents of Poverty Bay; whose relatives had grown seriously alarmed at the possibility ol an accident having overtaken them in the course of their long journey. Arrangements for, the assembly at Motu of experienced bushmen with adequate gear to undertake a descent of the river in the track of the holiday party had been completed yesterday morning, and it was intended to launch this search during the week-end, with the support of a party of Maoris who were to have commenced a search of the lower reaches of the river, working up the course of the Motu until some trace of the tourists was found. OVERDUE AT MARAEiNUT. Tlie travellers were three or four flays overdue, having expected to complete ■ their journey in eight or nine days at the most. The route of their journey from the falls to the sea is recognised as presenting many hazards, and there is no outlet save hy way of the gorges through which the river has cut a deep course. Only once previously has a boating party made the journey, so far as is known, and the hardships of the passage are such as to discourage all but the hardiest of spirits: the fact that ihe journey, once seriously begun, must be completed, is in itself a consideration of some weight. In the. telephone message by which the safety of the party was advised to their relatives, Mr. Caulton made light of the experiences undergone, but he admitted that for two days (he travellers had lived on “straight pig,” the deep forest which shuts in the course of the Motu River for nearly 70 miles having an abundance of this source of food, though probiding few alternatives. The original stock of provisions taken by the party at the outset of their journey lasted well, but the extra days ■spent eu route left them ’ decidedly short, at the finish, and' the wild pigs of the forest were levied upon for food supplies. SUDDEN FRESH IN RIVER

The adventure was commenced on Sunday week, the equipment of the party including a, flat-bottomed boat ouilt by Mr. Caulton in Gisborne, by means of which it was hoped to avoiu the need of tramping in the more open sections of the ro'ute. The boat was launched at Waitangirua, some little distance below the Motu Falls, and the little group of friends gathered to give the party a send-off .saw them disappear down-river, forsaking completely all touch with settlement. It was expected that the journey would be completed early this week, and the pass ing of 12 days before the party emerged was contemplated by no one connected with the adventure.

So far as was known last evening, the members of the party escaped injury, but suffered minor mishaps, and on one occasion had to repair their boat, which was damaged by contact with the rocks in the riverbed. One •lav of their stay in the bush was accounted for by a sudden fresh in the river, due to heavy overnight rain, and on the resumption of their journey they found added difficulty from the velocity of the water, which in many of the gorges made progress possible only by the taking of risks to life and limb. Throughout the route of their journey, Messrs. Telford, Caulton and Graham walked a good deal more than they boated, and over the final stages were content to allow their dunnage to ride aboard the craft, while they themselves made the best of their way afoot along the shores of the 'river.

The completion of the arduous journey found them fatigued but gratified with their experience, and anxious to alfhy at once the anxiety which they had realised their prolonged absence must have caused to their relatives. Next in order of preference, they desired an opportunity to rest and recuperate, accommodation being provided for them at Maraenui by native residents there. Mr. J. C. Graham. father of a member of the party, had arranged to leave Motu for Maraehui this morning to transport the travellers back to their starting-point.

ARDUOUS EXPERIENCE CHANCES OF ACCIDENTS That the journey down the Motu River is not to be undertaken lightly, or to be completed without much hard work and some periods of anxiety, is the conviction of members of the first party to accomplish the journey. Those now resident in the district are Messrs. Ellis and Richard Fisher, of Motu, Jack Jennings and G. Graham, the latter of Gisborne, who with Mr. Stanley Thorburn undertook the passage of the Motu River course in February, 1920, and arrived at Maraenui, on the coastline, days after the commencement of their trip. Describing some of the features of the journey, Mr. G. Graham stated to-day I hat there are some stretches of good going,' punctuated hy sections in which the river runs through gorges of great depth, and broken by shelves and teeth •f rock which offer a constant threat o} trouble to a boating party. The velocity of the river is almost always high, and in some stretches it is utterly hopeless to attempt progress by the use of boats. The 1920 party spent more time in the water and along the anks, manoeuvring their three oats through these dangerous passages, .than they were able to spend iu the craft, and their troubles were added to by the loss of one of the three boats before the journey had been half completed. The accident occurred in a 'deep gorge not far from the point where the Takaputahi flows into the Motu River, the craft being so badly damaged that it was impossible to use it further. The fact that Messrs. Telford, Caulton and Graham took only one boat was regarded by Mr. Graham as tempting Providence, for had the boat been too badly knocked about to use, the adventurers would have had no choice but to take to the bush for a great part of their journey. In many places the river 'flows between steep walls of rock, with too much depth to permit of wading, and no shore margin for a walking party. Only by going over the bluffs, through dense bush, could progress have been made without the boat.

party was exposed was that of complications. following the exhaustion or injury of one of its members. Two men in good shape might find it possible to carry a tnird a long distance over good going, but the task would be hopeless under the conditions governing a journey down the Motu River bed.

There is only one point in the course of the journey at which access to the outside world could be gained without a most serious risk, added Mr. Graham. This was the junction of the Takaputahi stream with the Motu River, whence an old Maori track led out to Torero and settlement. The Takaputahi joins the Motu at a point about half-way down the river from the falls, and in that locality is one of the finest campinggrounds possible to conceive, studded closely with nikau palms, and enclosed in a towering circle of hills. Before reaching that point, however, any exploring party must pass through a number of difficult passages, where the most careful handling of boats and also the utmost personal precaution against a fall must he observed.

It is a matter of local history in the Motu locality that on one occasion a Maori from Maraenui walked up-river from the mouth, and emerged in the neighborhood of Waitangiroa. He was under threat of police action, according lo the tale, and removed himself from his usual habitat by a course not to be recommended to the average individual. The incident is many years old, and no details of the Maori’s exploits are now available, 'but the journey must have been a most severe trial even for one accustomed to the bush.