THE MISSING GUIDE.

Waikato Times, Volume XL, Issue 3212, 26 January 1893, Page 3

THE MISSING GUIDE.

It t nppearo that M> ; ,Quintin .MoKinnon, the pniiular and eenial guide of Te Anau and Milford has come tq his death in. the way bo .many guides' and "pioneers meat their end—he has disappeared. He left Te Anau for Milford on the 29th of November, intending tn return in ft few days. He left in his whateboat,going in the first instance to his home at Gnrdan : Point, a pictnresqne »pot, a few miles from Mr hotel,' and oh the other side of the lake. It is supposed that ho spsnt the nieht there, and nn following day he called atTe"Ansn Downs station,» few miles further no the lake, and on the oopnsite'side to Garden Point, for stores. T From the information to hand it'U tint quite clear whether, he obtained a supply or not, He continued his journey from the station in the whnleboat, and was never seen after. Mr McKinnnn's non-return at length, caused alarm, and on the 27th of December Dr. Mclnernev,. of Melbourne, Captain; Duncan,' and; Messrs Stevens and Snnilgrass' formed a search party and went off in » yacht in quest nf the missing one.,. Thoy called at Garden Point, and found hjs dog, Watch,: and gun in the house. The do? had evidently been alnne for some days, and had maintained itself by killing birds, the f3athers' of which were scattered about the place. Next day they went on to Safety Gove, and right on to Sutherland Falls and Milford,' but everything was undisturbed at the various huts en route, and nowhere did they discover any traces of'McKinnon, or his boat, Just before reaching the falls there were found in the dense bush some branches that appeared to have been freshly cut, but as the sun can scarcely penetrate the' growth, the opinion is held/that theiranches must have been cut down some months ago,; Milford Sound was reached on-NewjYear'e Day, and it was then learned from Mr Sutherland that nothing had been seen of the missing man. Mr who has. there is toomiich reason to fear,'coma by. his death in the region' he knew so. wnllv had gained a name for himself as.an Alpine guideandexplorer, and will bo remembered in colonial history as the discoverer of the path to Milford, which was named after hiin. He had several engagements tn fulfil when he left, among them being the conducting of a party of tourists up Mount Cook. He was greatly esteemed by nil who made his acquaintance, and the news of his disappearance will bo received, with regret not only by many in New Zealand, biit by tourists who profited by his skill and .experience, and were enabled under his ', guidance tn see all the beauties of the Southern Wonderland, Mrs Snodsrass, of Lake Te Anau Hotel.-writinp to a friend in Invercargill nn the 9th inst., says:-" It is with deep regret I write to inform you that all hopß of finding poor McKinnon is now over. We held on to all the chances of his being in different, places until visits to the different localities proved he was not there. That lie has met with a watery grave is most generally the opinion, Long will we miss himhere, our numbers being so small. ; Nothing that has happened for many a day has made, such a deep and sirrdwful'impression;' Our search party returned this morning at 8 o'clock, raying that not a trace of him could be found,"