RESCUE OF CHILD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 249, 29 July 1940, Page 3

RESCUE OF CHILD.

MISADVENTURE IN HARBOUR. (Per Press Association'-. AUCKLAND, July 28. A four-year-old boy who wandered away from his home shortly alter 8 o’clock this morning was returned to bis parents seven hours later, after being rescued from the harbour by the crew of a coastguard launch on duty at the western side of the Queen’s wharf. The boy, David Appleton,. Mount Boskill, was unable to swim, and was beginning to show signs ol distress when lifted Irom the water.

One of the coastguard crew said later that they first noticed the lad trying to look into a packing case bung from the launch steps, about 20ft from the launch. He did not lose his head when in the water, and was trying to tread water. Fortunately he was within reach of men from tin 1 steps, and was not in the water for more than two minutes.

The launch then took him, wrapped in blankets, to the Admiralty steps, where the police took charge. The lad was then given a hot bath and a cup of hot milk at the St. John Ambulance wharf station, and was resting comfortably wrapped in blankets before a heater when a relative arrived to take him home. Save for a fright, he was little affected by his immersion.

A little more than a week ago the same boy left bis home and walked to Oneliunga before he was brought back to his family. His absence was not noticed to-day until he had been gone for more than an hour, and meanwhile lie had walked a considerable distance. When asked why he had come to the waterfront, his reply was, “To see ships.”