MIGRANTS’ ROMANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVIII, Issue 45, 21 January 1928, Page 3

MIGRANTS’ ROMANCE.

LEFT ENGLAND WITH TEN SOVEREIGNS. -

NOW EARNS £3OOO.

LONDON, Jan. 14. A touching story of the devotion of a little band of new Australians to their aged parents in the Old Country has been revealed.

Tile children concerned in the romance come from Plaistow. Their aged parents are to embark by the Larges Bay for Australia to-morrow. They are Mr and ilrs Charles Browne, with their old friend, Mrs Pritchett. The respective ages of the trio are 70, 69 and 66. Their children have contributed to enable them to spend a year with their children and grandchildren in Sydney. The idea originated with Mrs Pritchett’s son, who, years ago, although ridiculed, left Plaistow to seek liis fortune with but a few necessaries tied in a red handkerchief and ten sovereigns sewn in a bag round his neck. He had the Salvation Army address in Sydney. He 'worked his passage out and made guod. His income for 1927 is stated to have exceeded £3OOO. Mr Pritchett found the vacation in England over-short, and wished liis mother to leave her friends and migrate. Mr ar'l Mrs Browne’s two sons and two daughters in Australia also wanted their parents to migrate. But the Brownes’ three sons and two daughters, resident in England, prevailed, and it was decided to limit the visit to a year. Mrs Browne brought her family of 11 (two sons were killed in the war) from Chelmsford to Silvertown when the youngest was seven months old. Mr Browne was then working as a cabinetmaker and they were living in lodgings. Nevertheless, they successfully reared a healthy, loyal family, and are now still hale and active, and enjoymg a richly deserved rest. All the family in England foregathered at a daughter’s house yesterday night to farewell the party.