PROFESSIONAL STOWAWAY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 14 June 1939, Page 8

PROFESSIONAL STOWAWAY

MUCH-TRAVELLED MAN PLACED ON PROBATION BY MAGISTRATE lUuiteri Press Association! AUCKLAND, This Day. A self-confessed professional stowaway who travelled from Southampton to Bluff without paying his fare and lefr last night on the Niagara which stopped in the gulf and sent him back to the city by a launch. Allan Thomas, aged 27, civil engineer, pleaded guilty before Mr Orr-Walker on a charge of being a stowaway. The police said he told them he was born in England and travelled to Colombo four times, giving himself up to captains, who allowed him to work his passage. Eight weeks ago he travelled in the Maunganui from Melbourne to the Bluff, and worked his way to Auckland, where he was employed as a casual hand by a theatrical company which left last night by the Niagara. After the vessel left port he gave himself up. The Magistrate: Gave himself up too quickly. Senior Sergeant Calwell: Yes, sir. The Niagara was bound for Vancouver. I understand that now if a stowaway is aboard just after leaving port he must be returned to shore. “I am in a desperate position,” Thomas told the Magistrate. “I suffer with my lungs and had to leave because the country was too cold.” The Magistrate: It may be too hot for s’ou. A representative of the Union Company said that the costs of the launch was £3, but there was also the cost of the delay to the Niagara. The Magistrate convicted Thomas, placed him on probation for twelve months and ordered him to pay expenses. He added that if he wished to leave in a lawful manner the probation contract would be cancelled.