REAL ROMANCE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3129, 7 August 1922, Page 8

REAL ROMANCE.

Fourteen years ago, Gland Rivett Carnac. only son of one of England’s oldest families, flung out of Iris home in a rage and swore he would never go hack. He kept Iris word, for from that day to this bis family has had no word from him. and thus again real life lias supplier! the elements of a romance as interesting and as strange as any woven in the imagination of makers of fiction, fer there- was real romance in the a lory told the other day by Vernon C. Rivett Carnac, of Auckland, a cousin of the missing man. As boys the cousins ah ended an English school together. then their paths in life separated. and now mi belialt <d a sorrowing mol her in England Mr Rivett Carnac is trying to find out whether his cousin lias at any time been known tc have found Iris way to New Zealand. a country where many a wanderer has found a new identity and buried the associations and memories of other days. The reason that information as to tlie wanderer's whereabouts in so urgently desired is not merely a sentimental one, for it involves a. fortune and title, a fact of which the missing man is possibly unaware, for lie is now Sir Claud James Rivett Carnac, fourth baronet, his father having died a year after he left home so unceremoniousj y, and on his discovery depends the whole of the baronetcy fond, as well as the interest on money that has ar-

cumulatcd in the past 14 years. If he be dead, another cousin, William Percival Rivett Carnac, will fall heir to the title. Tiie family is of Norwegian origin, and traces an unbroken male descent from Thomas Ryvet, of Fritton, of Stowmarket, entertained Queen Elizabeth in 1578. The surname of Carnac was assumed 120 years ago by direction of General John Carnac, Commander-in-Chicf of the Forces in Bengal, and the name Rivett Carnac is one of the oldest and best known among AngloIndians* to this day. Such is the family history of the missing baronet. Details of bis jdc that are known to l his relatives are full of interest. While still a lad he made his first break from the ancestral root and went out to South Africa and joined the Capo Mounted Police. He served throughout the Boer War, and holds the South African medal with five clasps. He was known as a typical dare-devil Britisher, reckless and unafraid, the type of gentleman adventurer who may be met with in every corner of the world’s wayback places. On one occasion in South Africa he took a dare to jump his horse over seven bullocks standing abreast, and did it. This was vouched for by a fellow trooper who saw the jump, and whom Mr Rivett Carnac met afterwards in 1 'in 1908 the young man returned to England for a short time,, and then the incident occurred winch ent him furiously from his home, a world wanderer. Since then from time to time word has come directly of his restless passing from one country to another from South Africa to Beunos Aires, from Mexico to San Francisco, where indeed he is stated to have married an actress. This information was contained m a Sunday newspaper which chanced to reach'his mother in England, and was the last direct information received, although men have spoken of meeting him or someone like him on the 1 acdic Coast, and later at Hudson s Bay, m Canada’s dark and frozen Northland. A few months ago his mother, Cady Rivett Carnac. Cloane street, told the story of her son’s disappearance to the London press, in the hope that sometime, somewhere, news might Keaeli him that he was urgently wanted to return. “He is, or was, an extremely handsome man,” she said, dark haired, and of medium build, but no one can tell what he looks like now. All information we have been able to obtain is ancient history. His whereabouts since 1916 remain a mystery, and it is news of the years since then that we are seeking. The difficulty is that he may not want to be found, as ho left home in a rage. We shall be most thankful if any news of my son can be obtained, for his disappearance lias caused ns many years of sorrow and anxiety.” _______