LOST IN HILLS

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19763, 19 December 1935, Page 9

LOST IN HILLS

three huntly children. FOUND ABLEEP IN BHED. PARTY'S LONG SEARCH(SpeciaI to Times.) HUNTLY, Thursday. Losing their way In broken And bush-covered hill country while taking a short cut to their homes, three small Huntly West ohlldren had an unenviable experience last night, and were only found at daybreak to-day after a long search by a large party of Huntly residents. The children, two of whom were brothers, Leslie Hodgson (8), and Ronald Ho,dgson (4), were accompanied by another small boy named Ray King, aged four years. All were the children of residents of Huntly West. Gariy last evening the trio went to a neighbouring farm for milk, and after getting it they set out for home byway of a shoat cut over the hills. When they failed to reach home within a reasonable time, Mr Hodgson and neighbours made a search, but had found no trace of the missing childfen by 11 p.m. They communicated vith the Huntly police, who organised another search party and went to help. The country -was so rough and broken that it was soon seen that a large party of men was needed and a further call for searchers was made. About fifty miners and rallwaymen responded, and in pitch darkness and pouring rain the search was continued. Daylight was breaking when the searchers’ efforts were rewarded, and the children were found, safe and dry, sleeping in a shed near the main road about a mile and a-half from their homes. Apparently they had taken shelter there when overtaken by darkness.

The children bad a fortunate escape, from possible accident, as the country which they had traversed was honeycombed with subsidences, resulting from old mining operations.