LOST TN THE RANGES.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 952, 30 October 1882, Page 2

LOST TN THE RANGES.

We (Nelson Colonist) learn from a letter received in town, from a contractor who is camped in the Wairoa Gorge, and which lett''r has kindly been placed at oni’ disposal, that the weather in that neighborhood has been most terrific of late. Hurricanes of wind have been relieved only by drifting snow, tremendous downpours of rain with storms of thunder and lightning. About the 30th of September, the storm is likened to “ a typhoon and hurricane spliced together.” The writer then goes on to relate how he received letters and papers from town. He says that three men left the Top House for Tarndale, and being strangers in the country, after crossing the Rainbow they came np the wrong side till they got abreast of onr camp. The river at that time was rolling down in full flood, and the men were in a complete fix, for they were soaked through with rain and had no tent, no food, no dry matches, and but very little covering- of any description. It was not possible for a dog to cross the river, lint luckily for them, the writer says, I had a line which we threw across, and by means of this we sent them some stores in a biscuit tin, and a tent fly. The throe men, after getting a meal, rolled themselves np together in the fly in order to get warm, and for three days they were in this plight. These had brought up the letters and papers, and by means of the line thrown across the Wairan was the contractor and his party able to obtain them. The day following that on which the three men hound for Tarndale had managed to cross the river, a' cooey was heard at the contractor’s camp just as darkness was falling. .It was soon found that the voice proceeded from the opposite bank of the river, but owing to the roar of the river it was impossible to make out what the party on the opposite side said. The nest morning the men throw a match box across in which was a note stating “We gre lost; where are we ? We left Tarndale for Molesworth, and having been in the ranges for three days, ate the last of onr bread on Saturday night.”. This being Tuesday morning, we at once got onr line again and sent across some preserved meat and other eatables, and told the men where they were and the direction they had to take, and advised them to move as soon as they had eaten, for it was raining heavily, with thunder and lightniifg. “ That same night the river was bank high, and we have not heard whether they got across or not,” says the contractor' who adds, “ It is said that there are two or three men who have been lost up the Rainbow for over a week.” It will be, seen from the above narrative that the tempestuous, weather reported just off this coast has also been raging on the mountains in the interior, and that whilst we in Nelson have been enjoying sunshine, travellers around.ns have liad their lives in jeopardy.