FIRST MEETING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 306, 28 December 1939, Page 5

FIRST MEETING.

BROTHERS THRILLED.

HAD NOT SEEN EACH OTHER.

BOTH lITE IK NEW ZEAXAJItD.

Stanley's traditional remark, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" received a modern interpretation on Tuesday afternoon when two brothers, both born in New Zealand, met for the first time in their lives. When Mr. Charles Williams, post-i master at Remuera, saw a gentleman, whom he was expecting to meet for the first time, walking up and down the footpath outside the Eemuera Post Office, he went up to him and said, "Alf Williams, I presume?" The reply and the reunion that followed may well be left to the imagination. Mr. Alfred Williams, who is 62, 17 years older than his brother, left home to work at the age of 12. Since that time the brothers have lived in all parts of New Zealand without ever having been in the same town. Both were born in Russell; Mr. Charles Williams has lived all his life in the Dominion, but his brother served in the South African War for two years. Mr. Alfred Williams, who is a sheep farmer in the Waipukurau district, had motored up • from the south, leaving his home long before I dawn on Boxing Day. j The meeting was arranged in the! spirit of a Centennial celebration to coincide with family Christmas festivities. A sister at Russell provided Mr. Charles Williams with his brother's address. A letter, then a telephone call, finalised details. What is it like to meet a brother whom-you have never seen? In Mr. Charles Williams' words, "You're too full to say much. It's just one of those events that have to be experienced to be imagined." _