YOUNG STOWAWAY

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

YOUNG STOWAWAY

STORY OF “MR. X.” TRIP IN THE MONTEREY. “Mr. X,” the mystery stowaway who was . brought to Auckland from Suva by the Monterey and taken on to Sydney, proved to be a fair, quietly-spoken youth of 18, says the Sydney Sun. His name? is Winton Scott Munday, although he travelled back from Fiji under the name of Henry Stephens, and his occupation was set down as “milliner.” Munday told a story of great daring and hardship. He said that he boarded the Mariposa at Sydney on the previous trip with passengers and their friends. He mingled freely with .the crowds during the day and at night sought a hiding place. His first refuge was a ventilator. On other nights he found it more comfortable in the locker on the tennis deck containing sports materials. His great difficulty was lack of food. He dared not venture into the dining saloon. One day he nearly got there by mischance and almost ran into the arms of the purser. The youth said he was afraid to venture’ ashore at Auckland lest he be discovered, and he landed at Suva with 3s 6d in his pocket. He hurried to get a meal, but the dishes brought were the smallest he had ever seen. He lived with Fijian natives in their huts and ate their food, which was strange to him. His search for work was in vain, and rather than put his father, who is in business in Sydney, to the expense of bringing him home again he gave himself up. Munday refused to give his name and was charged as “Mr. X” and ordered to be placed upon the Monterey. The return trip he made in the “brig,” with bread and water as his diet. He said he had lost a good deal of weight, but he was quite philosophic about it all. Munday said that he was bom in Adelaide and now resided in Sydney, where he is a student. . , There was no difficulty in his landing

at Sydney, for his family had already made arrangements. y ‘