MAN WHO SAILED TASMAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 64, 17 March 1942, Page 5

MAN WHO SAILED TASMAN

TO BE EXTRADITED TO N.Z. ii \ (Recd. 9.5 p.m.) Hobart. March 16. e Richard Cecil Humphreys, aged 22. I is to be extradited to New Zealand (1 on a new charge of having escaped 0 from the Waikaria Borstal Institution r on September 20. 1941. While under detention the original ' / charge of having stolen a 27-foo. n auxiliary launch from Invercargill (i was withdrawn and he was proceeded . against on two new Tasmanian a charges: Firstly, being without lawful means of support; secondly, with ?s having at Swansea stolen a knapsack. , e valued at 10s 6d. He pleaded guilty > and the convictions were formally ;■ recorded. Humphreys appealed to th ' Bench to permit him to join any of _ the services rather than send him back to New Zealand saying that he J had already been in custody a month. s - The magistrate replied that he r - would have liked to do that, and r added that it was rather a pity th? 1_ New Zealand authorities were aban1S doning the more serious charge for *■ another. He asked Humphreys why j he had not joined the Army in New y Zealand. Humphreys replied that he had been working in a munitions factory. 3 Detective - Inspector Fleming, in ‘j asking for an extradition order, said C J that Humphreys had escaped from a Borstal institution and had taken an rl auxiliary launch and sailed it single--0 handed to. Tasmania in twentv-thren r days. An escort would take hib Pack “■ to New Zealand in the earliest avails able boat. Humphreys was remanded s for seven days. e When Richard Humphreys was i charged in the Hobar; Police Court l ’ on February 24 with the theft of a s 27-foot auxiliary launch from Invercargill, it was revealed that he had landed on the east coast of Tasmania after a voyage of 23 days across the ? Tasman. Humphreys, vho was alone. r relied on his sail for 21 days. Ho was • remanded.