SEVEN DAYS’ QUEST

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 632, 8 April 1929, Page 9

SEVEN DAYS’ QUEST

Southern Cross Seen Over Port George Mission on Sunday Week

MISSING SEARCHER NOW SAFE

(United F.A. — By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 10.35 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. |T has been definitely established that the Southern Cross, £ which, with Squadron-Leader Kingsford Smith, FlightLieutenant C. T. P. Ulm, Mr. H. A. Litchfield and Mr. T. H. McWilliam, has been missing for more than a week, passed over Port George Mission Station on Sunday week. This fact has raised new hope in the week-old quest. It is thought now that the monoplane must be within a reasonable distance of the Port George Mission.

TJEPORTS that the Southern Cross * party had been located at Thurburn Bluff are given an emphatic denial by the resident magistrate at Broome. He said that he sent no such message. Air-Pilot Wood left Wyndham in an airplane yesterday and flew to the Forrest River. There he learned that five parties of natives sent out on Tuesday had returned without any news of the lost flyers. Two large parties then left to search the country west of Forrest River. Later Wood flew to Thurburn Bluff, where the Southern Cross was thought to be. He found that the smoke which had been seen, and which had been taken for a signal, was merely from burning-off fires. Native parties were employed to scour the country in that locality. Other areas also are being combed. Rumour-mongers were busy in Sydney last night with cruel stories, all of them baseless. One was to the effect that the Southern Cross party had been found safe on an island off the north-west coast. Another rumour was that three of the airmen had been found inland in a despedate plight and that the fourth had been killed. This may have arisen out of the reported landing at Thurburn Bluff.

MADE FORCED LANDING MISSING PILOT SAFE FOUND BY SEARCH PARTY (Australian and 2(.Z. Press Association) Reed. 10.5 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. Search parties have been sent out from th emission at Walcott Inlet, and Air-Pilot Chater has been found. He made a forced landing at Walcott Inlet, but his airplane was damaged. Another plane left with spare parts for Mr. Chater. Air-Pilot Chater was overdue at Derby on Saturday night after another search of the Port George district. It was thought then that he might have been compelled by magneto trouble to stay at the Munja Station. It was reported on Sunday afternoon that Chater, who was overdue at Derby, had returned there on Saturday night, but the report was erroneous. It transpired that the Sydney town clerk, Mr. Garlick, received a telephone message purporting to have come from the Telegraph Office to the effect that Chater had returned, but no telegram confirming that statement was received. The telephone message referred to evidently was another of the mysterious ones which have been received in the last few days.

PETROL NOW A PROBLEM

SUPPLIES FOR SEARCHERS CANBERRA NEARS WYNDHAM (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 10.45 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. Captain Holden, in the air liner Canberra, has arrived at Newcastle Water, in Central Australia. He arrived at Oodnadatta late on Saturday evening from Broken Hill, leaving for Alice Springs on Sunday. He is expected at Wyndham to-night. A third West Australian airways machine from Perth has arrived at Derby, on the west coast of the Kimberley Division of Western Australia. It is stated now that it is not advisable for any more planes to join in the search, as petrol supplies in the area are running low, and further planes would only embarrass the position.

erly a companion of Kingsford Smith and Ulm, departed from Richmond yesterday in a Westland monoplane, the Kookooburra, to join in the search. He reached Broken Hill last night. Lieutenant Anderson and the missing leaders were recently involved in litigation about the Pacific flight., but they had been friends for years. A day or two ago Lieutenant Anderson said he would give anything to go and search for the missing men. Another close friend of Smith’s responded: “Very well. I will back you.” Lieutenant Anderson rejoined that he wanted no money. He would give anything to go. So he left in the Kookooburra to-day. His plane has a range of 1,100 miles. Anderson has an excellent knowledge of the country where the Southern Cross is supposed to be. ANXIETY OVERSEAS CONCERN IN FRANCE AND U.S.A. HOPES FOR SPEEDY RESCUE (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) Reed. 12.10 p.m. PARIS, Sunday. The French Press is showing: the greatest concern for the fate of the Southern Cross. Photographs of the airmen and the latest reports are given prominence. Kingsford Smith’s fine career is recalled, and the hope is expressed that every measure will be taken to conduct a thorough search. A message received from New York yesterday says that the number of inquiries made for the latest word of Squadron-Leader , Kingsford Smith and his companions testifies to the esteem in which the flyers are held in the United States. The hope is general that th© men will be found safe. The interest displayed, though more anxious in degree, equals that with which Americans followed breathlessly th© movements of the Southern Cross over the Pacific.

ANDERSON ON THE WAY I Lieutenant Keith Anderson, form