HIS GOOD TURN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 282, 28 November 1932, Page 5

HIS GOOD TURN.

TWO BOYS SAVED.

SCOUT'S GALLANTRY.

DECORATION TO BE SOUGHT.

"Hello, Skipper, Ivan Keid has done his good turn for to-day —he pulled a couple of boys out of the Wliau Creek this afternoon."

This was the way in which Scoutmaster Thompson, of the Waterview troop of boy scouts, learned that one of liis scouts had saved the lives of two Avondale schoolboys.

Beyond confirming the fact that he had "done his duty," Keid would give little information to his scoutmaster, and inquiries at the lad's home, and also at his school, revealed the fact that he had guarded his secret even there.

Four Avondale schoolboys left school on Friday last, with the intention of having a swim in the Wliau Creek, just where the creek sweeps round at the back of the racecourse.

Two of the boys, Clive McClintock and Arthur Woodward, both 14 years of age, were playing about in the shallow water near the bank, when McClintock slipped into the channel, where the water is about twenty feet deep. In 'trying to save himself he grabbed Woodward's leg, and in a moment two non-swimmers were in danger of drowning.

Reid sprang to the rescue, and reaching McClintock had little difficulty in bringing him to safety. Meantime the swift current had carried young Woodward off-shore, and Reid had to swim well into the channel to assist him.

Harold Killey, the fourth member of the party, and also a boy scout, was swimming too far away to help, but stated he saw Reid swimming round in a circle and catch hold of Woodward as he came to the surface. He had sunk more than once.

Beyond being badly scared neither of the boys was affected by the accident, and had Killey not reported the incident to his scoutmaster in all probability nothing would have been known of it.

Residents of Avondale state that the creek is most dangerous at the spot where the accident occurred, because of the steep slippery banks, which drop almost vertically into 20 to 25 feet of water in the channel. With the flood tide there is a strong current.

Reid, who will not be 14 until January next, is a very bright and alert lad. He is a second-class scout of the Waterview troop, of which he has been a member for the past two years.

The Scout Association intends to apply to Imperial Headquarters for official recognition of Reid's bravery, which they expect will be rewarded with the association's silver cross.