THAT RUNAWAY LAD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 1 August 1924, Page 3

THAT RUNAWAY LAD

THE CHRISTCHURCH CASE NAVAL RECRUITER BLAMED DENIAL BY MASTER-AT-ARMS lIUTCI-lINGS When. a. 15-year-old lad ran away horn liis homo at Ricoarton on Friday •Tidy 18lii, and made a journey north-ward.-to Marlborough-on liis bicycle, a distracted father laid the blame for the lad’s disappearance at the door of a naval recruiter who had been in Christchurch at about that time and had lectured to the pupils of the Technical College. where the lad was a student. It was claimed that the naval man had, with “brilliant colours and unlimited’ vocabulary,” painted such a fine word picture of life on the ocean wave that the lad’s imagination had been fired and he had decided to run away to sea. Master-at-Arms C .W. Hutchings, Naval Recruiting Officer, arrived in Blenheim on Tuesday in course of his official lour of New Zealand, and the report of the Christ church case was brought under his notice by the Express. This bluff, lobiisl man in blue was not a little taken aback \\ hen he, read about the lad’s escapade and the part he was alleged (o have played in inspiring the mad adventure. lie said it was the first he had heard of the affair and would certainly like to give, the report that lie did anything to cause that lad, or any other hov, to run away to sea a flat denial.

i “I am not here to actually recruit on the spot,” remarked ll)e " • Masler-at-Anns. “All I wish, to do is to point- out finite impartially the conditions of life in the Navy and its advantages and disadvantages. I tell the hoys there is plenty ot hard work, and. it’s not- a. recreation or a. rest camp .life. One thing I also make clear, and that is that no hoy can hope to run away to sea. It is impossible to join without the parents’ consent if the boy is under 21 years, so there would be little use in my inspiring the lads to run away. “As to the imaginative pictures,” the speaker proceeded, “well, I’m not one to indulge in that sort of thing. I just state the plain facts. I don’t possess an 'unlimited vocabulary,’ as my 'education didn’t go far enough for that. However, I may say that at every school ant, which J speak there is always a master present in the room, and if I said anything out of place I think ho would intervene. As there, was no reporter present when I spoke at the Christchurch Technical College I don’t see how they could give an opinion of what my remarks conveyed to the pupils. I did not speak long, and I deny that I aimed at getting the lads to do anything rash.” The Mnster-at-Arms glanced again at the newspaper report, which made T. clear_ that- the bov himself disavowed any intention of running away to sea, and detailed the arduous journey he had made from Christchurch to Seddon, where he was intercepted. A smilo spread over t.ho seaman’s face as he remarked softly: “But, by Jove, lie’s just the sort we want in the Navy. That trip he made shows the lad’s the real stuff. It’s the material after.”