"VERDICT AT THE INQUEST, TIMARU, June 25. An inquest into the deaths of Sergeant William Patrick Morton and Leading Aircraftman Wilfred Frank Wallis, two members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, who lost their lives while climbing on Mount Malte Brun on March 20, was held at Timaru today. The inquest was held under provisions of section 3 of the Coroners Act, which allows for the holding of an inquest in the event of destruction of the body, or of the body being situated in such a place that it is irrecoverable.

The Coroner (Mr H. Morgan) returned a verdict that Morton and Wallis met their deaths on March 20, 1943, while alpine climbing on Mount Malte Brun. He added that while there was no direct evidence to show how the fatality occurred, it seemed probable that they slipped and fell down a rock face. Their bodies might be lodged on the face or in a crevasse of the glacier, but in either case they would be difficult to find and impossible to recover."

[Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 219, 26 June 1943, Page 2]