STRANGE MEETING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 425, 17 November 1930, Page 3

STRANGE MEETING

FATHER AND SON UNITED •‘BOY I HAVE NEVER SEEN” As a result of a quarrel outside a Portsmouth public-house, Mr J. Pereu, of bouthsea, has become acquainted with his son, whom he had never seen. Mr Perett was walking to his lodgings when he saw three men maltreating another. He went up to see if he could help the victim when the othei men attacked him. Things were going badly for him when a young brawny sailor ran to his assistance. After a while the three men ran away, leaving the sailor alone with the two victims.

While chatting about things in general o\ i a «-up of tea, Mr Perett asked the sail* i his name. “Perett,” he answered. *• .lack Perett.” The sailor was an orphan, he said. His mother had died shortly after his birth, and his father, who had gone away to sea beforehand, had never since been ucard of.

“Good heavens,’’ ga.-ped Mr Perett, “then you must be my son —the son I have never seen.” The couple then went to Mr Perett’s lodgings, where he produced documents and photographs which left the matter indisputable. In an interview, Mr Perett explained how he had come to lose sight of his son. “Twenty-five years agu my wife, who lived at JSouthsea, was expecting lhe b’rth of a child when I had to go •way,” he said, “but she died soon after its birth. The child was then put out to foster parents, who afterwards moved. “1 was away for at Wist three months, and consequently when I returned home nobody knew where they ha«l gone. They said my child had been a boy, but had no idea where he was. I tried hard to find him, but it was no use—he had vanished.

“Still, we have met again after all these years. It is an amazing piece of good fortune. 1 *