LOST IN THE BUSH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2830, 6 January 1925, Page 3

LOST IN THE BUSH.

A TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE. Stratford, January 2. •lames Benjamin Aitken, aged 24, a resident of Te R-oti, who had been missing since Sunday, and for whom search parties have been scouring the district, has returned home. He was lost in the hush on Mt. Egmont. About noon on New Year’s Day he staggered out of the bush and eventually reached a. farmer’s house, where he was attended to and given nourishment. He was in.a very bad way, and collapsed upon reaching civilisation. Eater he was conveyed to his home. -He was -id too exhausted a condition to give much of a coherent account of his experiences, but from the few statements he made it was ascertained that he_ had had nothing to eat since Sunday until he reached the farmhouse. He wandered about the: "bush for over three days and had an altogether terrifying experience. When he emerged from the hush he was scantily clad, the grim struggle with the undergrowth having been a very unequal one. It is not to be wondered at that Aitken, who was never blessed with a strong constitution, should have collapsed under the strain. The remarkable feature is that he should have been able to see such an experience through safely. He is at present in a very low state, and the doctor has ordered complete rest and quietness.