BOYS’ ESCAPADE.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1923, Page 6

BOYS’ ESCAPADE.

ILL-STARRED LAUNCH TRIP. Warkworth. Saturday. A boy working for a local farmer has created some excitement in the district this week. This boy, an orphan, it is stated, ran away from a home in Auckland. and under an assumed name obtained work here. When trying to get into touch with one of his old mates on the telephone, his voice was recognised by an official. The youth, knowing this and fearing trouble, le f t his work, and hung around the district fcr a few days. The lacl then, it is alleged, commandeered a launch from another farmer, paid a midnight visit to his old employer’s place, and took all the provisions he could find, and also rugs, etc. Stowing these and some benzine into the launch, and taking in tow a small pulling boat, he started off on his travels. Trouble with the engine soon stopped his journeys, so he abandoned the launch, and pulled ashore to a lonely part of the river bank. A search party, headed by the local constable, located him in a clump of bush, but they had a strenuous chase before capturing tliei” quarrry, ultimately finding him asleep in a dry underground watercourse. where he had crawled in to hide. The boy was brought to Warkworth. and then taken to Auckland in charge ci Constable Snow.