MOUNTAINEERING RISKS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 60, 8 September 1931, Page 8

MOUNTAINEERING RISKS

t (To the Editor.) f Sir,—The importance of the subject, and . the urgent need for the public to protect what personal liberty still, remains to it, is the justification I offer for again asking for the hospitality of your columns. * May I disclaim at the outset, any hoslil'Hy to Mr. Harper,, personally. Never I having met him, I would hardly entertain . Hostility, and if there is one thing which ' more than another, long association with great mountains teaches, it is, not so much t contempt, as indifference, to things small - and mean, and among these I unreserved- ■ [y. pl,ace / Personal animus. I would regret to | think (as I certainly do not) that this L supreme benediction of the mountains had passed Mr Harper by, and I am the more , fui prised therefore that he should read ■ into my letter "derogatory remarks about - professional guides," for by ,no stretch of • imagination can such be found therein My hostility is obviously directed to the threatened further restrictions upon our vanishing liberties, to the dismal prospect ot more boards, more regulations, more vcrbotens, more bureaucracy, and all the coming rumble and ramp of officialdom. In passing may I venture to wonder why mountaineering should be singled out ior grandmothering. Yachtsmen are nSnf (3' ci} c°mPened )° carry a registered pilot when they go for a cruise, nor are others obliged to employ a professional hfe-saver when they go for a swim vet no one would suggest that mountaineering takes anything like the. toll of life that drowning does, nor do the followers of those llle S p or t s shoiv signs of hystcri when the occasional accident occurs i. do not doubt that the intentions of Mr. Harper, and those associated with him, are of the best, however much ] may and do disagree both with the method and the object, for my view which is apparently diametrically opposed to that of Mr. Harper, is that one's per «onnl freedom is a more desirable thing than ones personal safety. As to whether the apprehensions expi eased m my original letter are justified I may I ask you to republish the following clipping taken from the "Dominion" "i oth inst. It is a sufficient reply to Mr Harper's disclaimer:— to"nr£ilf tiof" ?l' ati rc t0 toUrisfc ««»*« to pioyde for the licensing of euides tr> take charge of parties of "alpnSTwin probably be introduced in the House o Kepresentatives by the Minister in Charge of Tourist and Health Resorts, Eon pT de la Perrelle, during the coming week" (L'nnZ^T 1 that tbe legislation is the outcomei of representations made to causSTrtf™ T tei" m Vi- e7 o£ the double caused through an unguided party climbing Mount Ruapehu a week aeo If tho proposed legislation is passedl byg?he House it will prevent parties from undertaking alpine journeys without the safeguard of an experienced guide. The measure wi?l be mainly applicable to the Tongariro Th°e"t uTfnf^ Unt Cook S"" J-ne truth of the old warning, that we sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind i« being .thoroughly well e^empfledthe Politician has been invited to interfere and the curse is upon us.—l am, etc CHAS. T. SALMON, ralmerston North, 7th September.