A DETERMINED BOY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1460, 28 January 1886, Page 3

A DETERMINED BOY.

A youth named James Welch, aged nine, appears, from recent disclosures, to be determined to settle in America. In 1883 he stowed away on board a British vessel bound for Charlestown, secreting, himself in a doe-kennel, and remaining there for fourteen days. Sympathetic sailors provided him with five meals, but he was otherwise without food, and, in addition, he was badly bitten by rats. Upon arriving at his destination he was discovered by the officers and sent back to his parents in Liverpool; yet in 1884 ho made a second voyage under similar circumstances, and was again returned. This year he has made two more passages across the Atlantic. He left Liverpool in September on board the Iberia, in company with an adventurer of his own age. The two boys were provided with soma biscuits, a loaf of bread, and a can of water ; and for seven days they successfully hid themselves. On September Bth, however, they were discovered, and when the ship reached Boston, the captain, to their great annoyance, forebode them to go ashore, and informed them that he would take them back to England with him. As a contemporary remarks, the Geographical Society would do well to keep its eye on James Welch, len or fifteen years hence he will doubtless be valuable as an explorer. The inconveniences in Central Africa, Northern Borneo, or the Polar regions, are as nothing in comparison with the hardships attendant upon crossing the Atlantic as a stowaway ; and Master Welch, it must bo admitted, has developed a most promising passion for discomfort and privation.