AFTER MANY YEARS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20994, 22 December 1939, Page 10

AFTER MANY YEARS

BROTHER AND SISTER MEET REUNION IN DUNEDIN (Special to Times) DUNEDIN, Wednesday On the Dunedin railway station platform this afternoon a woman 77 years of age kept a keen look-out for j the brother whom she had not seen J for 52 years and whom she had believed to have been dead for more than a generation. The brother, Mr E. M. Jarvis, of Capetown, South Africa, had likewise long believed ; that he was the only surviving member of his family, until a strange chance brought brother and sister together again. Method of Identification In the bustle of holiday traffic they were not sure that one would recognise the other and it was decided that the Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which Mr Jarvis wears in his coat lapel, should be a means of identification. The Jarvis family are old residents of Dunedin, the late Mr and Mrs Mark Jarvis having arrived by the ship Chili in 1861. The following year, in a tent erected on the Octagon,, a baby girl was born. This was Mrs Jarvis’ sister, now Mrs A. BroS- ; nan, of Logan Point. With her at , the station to-day were her daugh- ( ter, Mrs. A. Spears, and members of her family. The reunion was a deeDly affectionate one. Mr Jarvis left Dunedin in 1887 and went to Australia. In the years that followed he communicated on several occasions with his family in Dunedin, but received no word from them and eventually concluded that they had died. He went to Capetown in 1896, where he has lived ever since. Sequel to a Gift j In January last year, from an un- j known source, he received a copy of j a Dunedin newspaper, the only item [ in which he found interest was a re- j port of a meeting of the Early ; Settlers’ Association. He communi- | cated with the secretary, explaining ■ who he was and offering some inter- j esting books which were in his pos- , session and a pair of bellows which . his mother had brought to New Zea- j land. , The offer was gratefully accepted | and when in due course an acknow- | ledgement was made of the gifts its . publication was noticed by Mrs Brosnan, who immediately made inquir- | ies to find if the donor could possibly | be her long lost brother. Thus it was that the two surviving members of the family were once more put m touch with each other. Mr Jarvis intends to remain in New Zealand for a few months. Dur-

ing that time he \vill convey the ! greetings of the Presbyterian Church j of South Africa to the General As- ! sembly of the Church in New Zeaj land when the Centenary proceedI ings open in February. i =*