WALK ROUND THE WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18711, 17 May 1924, Page 13

WALK ROUND THE WORLD.

EFFORT FOR WAGER OF £500. \ ———— COMPLETION IN THREE YEARS. [from our OWN correspondent.] LONDON, March 20. Mr. Arthur Thomas Tyson Dickens, a South Shields contractor, called on the Lord Mayor of Bradford (Alderman H. M. Trotter) before* restarting on a tour of the world, which he is attempting for a wager of £500. The wager originally arose through a jocular remark made by Mr. Dickens. The route fixed is most complicated, while one of the conditions of the wager is that the task be completed in three years, and another ' provides that Mr. Dickens does not pay a single penny for a lift on the- road. A further stipulation is that he earns his food and lodging by doing odd jobs. As an instance of this he earned 5s in the . early stages of Ms long tramp by washing two motors.

" Mr. Dickens left South Shields on Saturday morning," says a Yorkshire paper, ' and it is interesting to note that on his way he happened to ask for a lift in a passing motor-car, the passenger in which turned out to be Sir Henry Lawson, who gave Mr. Dickens a letter of introduction to Sir George Clifford, in New Zealand, and also to various gentlemen in East Africa.

" On reaching the Bradford Town Hall Mr. Dickens was accorded a hearty greeting, and among the messages given him for delivery from the Lord Mayor was one to the" Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the Lord Mayor's son, Mr. W. H. Trotter, who is in business in New Zealand. Mr. Dickens leaves Bradford for Liverpool, from which place he contemplates working his passage to Canada. In addition to English, he- has a knowledge of French, and also a slight knowledge of German. He is securing the autograph of each Lord Mayor and Mayor with whom he comes in contact, and he hopes to receive the King's signature On the completion of his tour."