HOLIDAY RISKS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19827, 29 April 1927, Page 6

HOLIDAY RISKS

The probable fate of the two young Wellingtonians who were lost while on a tramp over the Tararuas has exercised the public mind to a considerable extent during the past few days, and a great amount of relief will be felt at the news that they have turned up safely, not a great deal the worse for their experience. The story of their adventures shows that they had a hazardous time and a fair amount of good fortune in getting out of the mountains as they did, though it seems plain, that pluck played probably as great a part as luck. The episode, however, serves to emphasise the risks, one might say the foolish risks, so frequently taken by people setting out on holiday adventures without knowing what is in front of them. For an experienced camper, or for one who knows his ground, to set out upon a mountain or a bush expedition is one thing; for those without experience or who do not know their way, it is quite another. Mountaineering annals, even in a young country like New Zealand, contain the record of many disasters due to inexperience, or over-confidence. Anol her ease in point was the tragedy in the Waimakariri a few months ago, when a party of young fellows set out on a drift down the river without the least idea of the conditions ahead, and on a frail craft which the rapids soon crumpled. This spirit of adventure is without doubt an admirable thing; without it the world would get nowhere and it is to be encouraged, not repressed. But every wise adventurer takes counsel of others who have been there before, if he does not know the way he seeks company which does, and the more experienced he is the more precautions he takes. In a country like this, where there are so many opportunities for satisfying a love of the out-of-doors, both on land and water, it cannot be too strongly stressed that “lone hand” parties are dangerous and that parties adventuring without experience or information, or both, are still more so.