VOLUNTEERS ON THE TREK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 5 April 1907, Page 2

VOLUNTEERS ON THE TREK.

I AN AIiDCOUS MAIiCII. Per Press Association. !) Wellington, April •!. I Though there was no Easter oncampI meat here during Faster, a company of I engineers. 17 strong, under Lieutenants ) Coady anil Fitzgerald, essayed to march j from Waimiiomata to Featherston, and [ had to contend with many dill'ieulties. j They proceeded to Waimiiomata , on j I'ridfcy, and, after a brief camp, re- ; sumed the inarch. Very early in the i trip the men had opportunities to study , the art of lindiug the wav out, of dilli- '< cultics. The first ridge (hey mounted ' did not help them on their' wav; the [ painful climb onlv revealed the fact that they had to go'back and start- afresh. They tackled another, and later on found that they could not get through the dense bush on to Orongorongo. They were compelled to make their way along -i creek", and this passage occupied live hours. Thev get into the Orongorongo aI, six o'clock lu the evening, and bad lo liirniuick ill the middle of the riverbed, for (he banks were too steep to be cliiiib-.d. They lit a lire, boiled the billv, and ten minute:, after throwing a sop io their appetites, which the arduous journey had highly magnified, all were asleep. At 4.-15 next morning they continued the march, and had to walk in water till midday, when they reached a road. The lust four hours 'on the Hat wvtv covered in a hcavv hailstorm. If was estimated that the men walked -111 miles, of which twenly-six, in rough bush country, took twenty hours. Oih'v the men got into the open (hey stepped out briskly, and did the remaining fourteen miles in lour hot/fs. Fiery man came in foot sore, and must of them finisher the jouniev in bare feet. Onlv four pairs of boots survived the bulleting that they received in (he beds of rivers and creeks, and other ron-di places. The footwear of the others was worn and torn right away, due man had to do fourteen miles with bare feet. and others averaged six miles in that ' condition