BOYHOOD AT OAMARU

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27277, 18 February 1954, Page 11

BOYHOOD AT OAMARU

IMPRESSIONS OF CHESNEY

(New Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, February 17. “He appeared to be a normal boy, though with an odd resentment towards his mother/’ said Mr D. F. C. Saxton, of New Plymouth tonight, when he recalled incidents in the life of John Ronald Merrett, alias Chesney, an international criminal and smuggler, whom he taught while a master. at Waitaki Boys’ High School.

“I was the special tutor of Merrett when he and his mother lived at Oamaru from 1920 to 1923,” said Mr Saxton. “To the other residents 'of Oamaru, an air of mystery always surrounded Mrs Merrett and her son. They lived in a pleasant home on a hillside overlooking the town.

“Mrs Merrett took a particular interest in good music, and she was a competent pianist. She had obviously travelled the world a great deal, but there was never any sign of her husband while she and her son lived in New Zealand. He was generally supposed to be a Russian.

“When Ronald was 12 or 13, and under my care as his form master. Mrs Merrett decided that she wished him to study for entry to the British Foreign Office. I was engaged as his special tutor in English and French. “In the next year, I spent considerable time at the Merrett home, tutoring the boy and listening to Mrs Merrett playing the piano. She obviously had difficulty in managing her son, though I myself had none.

“In 1922, the mother and son left for Scotland.” said Mr Saxton. “Arrangements had been made for Ronald to continue his schooling with a view to entering Edinburgh University.”

Mrs Merrett had continued to write to him periodically, and mentioned increasing difficulty in her relationship with her son. said Mr Saxton. She had written that he was wayward, and appeared to have no affection or rcsnect for her. “In 1926. I was greatly shocked to rend a newspaper report that Mrs Merrett had been found shot in her Edinburgh home, and later was further shocked to read that Ronald had been arrested and charged with the murder of his mother,” said Mr Saxton. “Later still, I received a letter by surface mail front Merrett, dated five da vs before her death. “The trial of Morrett on a charge of murdering his mother excited so much attention in legal and judicial circles in Britain that it became a celebrated case, and the whole of the evidence was published in a book, said Mr Saxton.