WARNINGS GIVEN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 8, 1 September 1931, Page 3

WARNINGS GIVEN

THREATENING CONDITIONS STORY TO "POST." A motorist who passed through Rotorua yesterday and was amongst the guests at the Chateau at the time Mr Bell and his ill-fated' party left to attempt the ascent of Ruapehu, told the "Post" that endeavours were made to dissuade the students from attempting the trip. The weather conditions at the time were threatening but Mr Bell persevered on his intention in spite of warnings. Other parties had left the Ghateau that morning for the ski-ing grounds at Scoria Flat, but no other parties had attempted a long climbThe opinion was expressed by the "Post's" informant that some system of eontrol was urgently required at the Chateau to prevent parties from attempting diffieult trips' when the conditions were unfavourable. At present, parties of inexperienced persons could go and depart at will, with or without ofiicial guides. There was an atmosphere of tense anxiety at the Chateau when the news of the non-return of the party went abroad, this gentleman stated, and it was not until 2.30 a.m. on Sunday morning, after parties of searchers had been scouring the countryside for hours, that news of the discovery of five members of the party brought a gleam of hope. The arrival of Mr Allan Flynn, who wandered away from his rescued eompanions also revived hope for the remainder of the missing, but as the night wore on without further news, anxiety mounted again. Mr Flynn was in a state of almost eomplete exhaustion — he was just able to stand and no more. The other members ' of the party, who had arrived earlier, Messrs Graham Bell, and Stewart MoDiarmid, and Misses Moya Watkins, Gwenneth Watkins, and Eva Ellitt, were also in a very exhausted condition. They stated that they had spent all Saturday night on the mountain and had left the remainder of the party sheltering in the bush below the snowline. At 9 o'clock yesterday morning, when the "Post's" informant left the Chateau, the weather had cleared but he jstated that on Sunday and during Saturday night, conditions were "terrific." The search for the remaining members of the party was, still proceeding-