TEN-WEEK VISIT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 67, Issue 219, 28 June 1947, Page 4

TEN-WEEK VISIT

MR A. MATHERS IN SYRACUSE Under the heading of “New Zealander Here on 10-Week Visit," above a photograph of himself and his sister, there appeared in a paper in Syracuse an account of Mr Alexander Mathers’ visit to his family. Mr Mathers, of Ashburton, who made the trip to America by plane from Auckland, is visiting his brother, whom he has not seen since they met on a battlefield in France 30 years ago and his three sisters. He had not seen one sister, Mrs Lawrence Barney, for 28 years.

“You see I left the family home in Belfast, Ireland, back in 1913,” explained Mr Mathers. “Just as I reached New Zealand the war came along, and I joined up for four years. In France I saw my brother. On leave in Belgium 1 saw my two sisters. Mr Mathers has met for the first time a sister who was not born when he was at the war. Amazed that the whole city should be interested in a visitor from New Zealand, Mr Mathers explained that the newspaper in Ashburton devoted most of its space to international happenings. “We keep up with Babe Ruth, Joe Louis and the Kentucky Derby winners almost as well as you do here,” he said. The Ashburton paper did put in a piece about his long trip. Mr Mathers admitted, but said it was mostly because he made the trip completely by air. Mr Mathers plans to leave for New Zealand on August 15.