THE URGE TO ROAM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 15, 19 January 1939, Page 9

THE URGE TO ROAM.

JOINS BLACK WATCH. N.S.W. LAD'S CAREER. 'HAS OUTS/ SATS MAGISTRATE (Special—By Air Mall.) LONDON, December 24. Arthur Edward Gill, aged 21, wbo ran away to sea from his college in. New South Wales, this week admitted in Marylebone Police Court, London, that he had stolen clothing, valued £10. He wore the uniform of the Black Watch. A remarkable story was told of Gill's jlife. After leaving college he worked his passage to Montreal, but was

deported to Britain under the immigration laws. He got a job in Glasgow, but found it too tame and vent off in a cargo boat to America and back. Then he fought for the Spanish Government, returning to Britain early this year. Liking military life, he joined the Black Watch, but found conditions so different that he deserted. His aunt gave him £50 to return to Australia, but he had some difficulty in proving his birthplace. He shared a room with Mr. Raphael Norman, an actor, in Paddington, London, but at last found himself penniless and had to pawn his clothes. At the end of his tether, he took Mr. Norman's clothing *and went off to Scotland. At Perth, he was arrested as a deserter. He escaped from his escort and dived into the Tay. Boats were put out and he was rescued with a boat-hook. The magistrate, who remarked that Gill had guts, thought that a week in Brixton Prison might do him good, and he remanded him.