MISSING MAN RETURNS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27190, 6 November 1953, Page 10

MISSING MAN RETURNS

SCHOOLMASTER’S LOSS OF MEMORY JOURNEY TO LONDON AND BACK TO N.Z. (From Out Pariiameutary Reporter) WELLINGTON, November 5. A schoolmaster from Broadwood, in Northland, who disappeared from' his home in August, arrived at Wellington by the Rangitiki from London today. Suffering from amnesia, Mr H. F. North lett home as usual, but 10 days later “woke up” in a London street. Mr North said today that his. first reaction in London was “utter bewilderment, panic, and near hysteria.” His last recollection was of setting off from his home to the Brgadwood District High School, where he' is senior assistant teacher. Mr North did not know, until a reporter told him this morning, that he returned home from school that day, told- his wife he was going to a conference of teachers in Auckland, and later left in his car. How he obtained a seat on an aeroplane to London he does not know. Nor does he know where he got the money forJhe fare. It is possible that he sold the . car, but he has no change. of ownership papers, and the Auckland police have been to trace the car.

He had a passport in his possession, for he had gone to England in 1935 and did not return to New Zealand until about 12 months ago. How he obtained an income-tax clearance, inoculations, and vaccinations, and went through the other formalities associated with overseas travel, including permission from his wife to leave the country, is, he says, a mystery. Mr North says, too, that he does not know where he stayed in England. When he realised where he was he walked into the nearest police station, and said: “I am a New Zealander. I don’t know how I got here.” The police were sceptical, but they turned out his pockets and found his passpert and a checked luggage ticket from Kensington tube station. A policeman went there, and received two suitcases which held Mr North’s clothes and personal belongings. He was then sent to New Zealand House, where'his return passage was arranged. Doctors who examined him in London told him he had suffered from a type of amnesia that drove the sufferer as far away as possible from his normal environment. They said he had suffered longer and gone a greater distance than they had heard of before. He was unlikely to have another attack.