ORPHAN BOY’S TRIP TO DOMINION

Southland Times, Issue 23646, 22 October 1938, Page 8

ORPHAN BOY’S TRIP TO DOMINION

MOST POPULAR PASSENGER IN RANGITIKI (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, October 20. A four-year-old boy with a warm Derbyshire brogue, Keith Cutting, was one of the best-known passengers in the Rangitiki, .which arrived today from England. His parents died in the village of Swaddincote and he has come to New Zealand to live with his uncle and aunt, Mr and Mrs M. Hyde, of Hutt Valley. The. passengers say he will make a fine New Zealander. The New Zealand High Commissioner (Mr W. J. Jordan) placed the boy in the care of Mr and Mrs F. A. Burdett, who were travelling to New Zealand in the Rangitiki. “He is a remarkably intelligent lad and had a marvellous time on the trip,” said Mr Burdett. “He was one of the ‘men’ in a four-berth cabin and was the most popular passenger in the ship. Everybody has been kind to him and, except for a few days when he was seasick, he has been fit and well since leaving London.” Keith made friends with everyone, especially with an elderly passenger whom he dubbed “granddad” and whose cabin he visited at various times of the day for a chat. Keith told a reporter of his adventures, calling the ocean “the river.” He was puzzled by the natives of Panama and the only conclusion he could reach was that they had no soap with which to wpsh their faces white.

He leaves for Hutt this evening to join relations whom he has not previously seen. All he knows of New Zealand is that there are “lots of cows, sheep and lambs.”