DWINDLING HOPE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 100, 22 January 1935, Page 10

DWINDLING HOPE

Missing Waiohine Gorge Camper EIGHT DAYS OVERDUE Dominion Special Service. Masterton, January 21. Hopes for the safety of Mr. Harold Goodman, who is lost in the Waiohine Gorge region, are now growing slender as the more rugged country is scoured by search parties. Tlie country in the region has been combed thoroughly and .extensively during tlie past few days, and as the camper is now eight days overdue there seems little hope of his being found alive. The ranges have been obscured by heavy rain clouds all to-day, and swollen rivers and a high wind have greatly aggravated-the difficulties under w' icb tlie searchers are working. Signals from the Cone would be futile to-day, and in the event of Mr. Goodman being found the only means of transmitting the fact would be by short-wave wireless or by the searchers coming in The searchers will remain out until to-morrow, when the question of discontinuing tlie search will be considered. SEARCHERS’ DISCOVERY Fire Still Warm in Hut Two of the searchers who arrived at the Holdsworth Mountain House late on Thursday night last found the fire there still warm, said a member of the Tararua Tramping Club last night. They also found a purple cardigan and an axe with a short home-made handle. As a result of a conversation with Constable A. Gregor, of Greytown, it has been concluded that those articles may belong to Mr. Goodman. A son of the missing man will leave Greytown for the mountain house to-day to see the axe and the cardigan. If it is proved tliat they belong to Mr. Goodman, they will be the first definite signs of him since’ Christmas Day. It has not been decided '<> what extent the search will be renewed in the Holdsworth district if the cardigan and axe are identified as Mr. Goodman’s. Operations will be complicated by the fact that it is five days since they were found, and that district is. not conveniently accessible to Wellington trampers except by motor-car the provision of which is an important necessity for the search to be continued theie. Activities hitherto tave been in the Waiohine Valley between Wall’s whare and Totara Flats and the Waiohine district has been fairly well combed. The mountain house is three or four hours’ journey from tlie Waiohine River, up which it was thought Mr. Goodman intended to go. More of the searchers returned to Wellington yesterday, leaving 17 in the Cone Hut-Waiobine district. These will al return by this afternoon’s train, their supplies of food having run out. The party visiting the Waiohineit! also is due back to-night. Difficulties oi the Search. Some of the searchers who returned yesterday gave accounts of the difficulties encountered as a result oi the ram on Saturday. The party due to search the upper Waiohine reached the river ou Friday night atter clambering down a waterfall to the riverbed. On Saturday morning they went down-stream to the Waiohine forks, taking 35 minutes. Tue return jouryy to the camp took two hours. Owing to file river's rising they had to scramble along its s'teep baiiK. Heavy rain during the remainder of the day prevented further searching. Continued rain that night caused the river to rise at an alarming rate, and the camp site was in danger of being flooded, so members of the party took turns at sitting up and watching the water. By 11 p.m. it was obvious that tlie camp would be flooded, so they crawled out of their sleeping bags, donned their tramping clothes and struck camp. They found it impracticable to move either up or down the swollen river m the dark, and the only way out was up the fall they had previously descended. They clambered ten or twelve feet up the fall, where some ! ound rocks to sit on and others sat on branches of trees, their wet tent being used to protect their packs. After a meagre breakfast they found further search in the river impossible and were forced to return to the Cone Hut by the ridge they had descended two days earlier. Forced Baek by River. Another party, which had commenced from Otaki. entered liie upper Waiohine from Kime Hut on Friday morning, and during the day they followed tlie river down, progress being severely impeded bv the falls. By night they were still in very rough country, and the problem of finding a eamp site was difficult. Eventually that was solved by their removing large boulders to make a sufficiently large space in which to camp. Kain during the night caused the river to rise early on Saturday morning, and forced the party to break came early and retreat from tlie river, tlie waterfalls which they had negotiated with difficulty the previous dav being now impassible. Eventually they left the river and traversed the range to Alpini Hut. Officials of trampers' organisations pay tribute to the work of tlie men who have established and manned temporary radio stations to assist in tlie search, and who have worked long hours both in the ranges and in the city. Tlie operators who have been in the Tararnas are expected hack in Wellington to-day