MEETING AFTER FORTY TWO YEARS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 448, 9 January 1909, Page 4

MEETING AFTER FORTY TWO YEARS.

A pleasing sequel to a pathetic story was told to Horace Smith at Westminister Police Court recently, when Alfred Cornelius Borguis, an old ship carpenter, of 68, attended the Court for the second time on a charge of attempting to drown himself in the early morning off Millbank.

When rescued with difficulty from the water and deep mud, the old man was in a most dejected and pitiable condition. In his pocket was found a sort of a diary recording his great privations and his disinclination to go back to the workhouse, where he had been too weak to work and had been annoyed by the taunts of a younger pauper. Markedly contrasting with his former sad aspect was his happy expression in court when he thanked the Magistrate for all that had been done for him. Mr Barnett, the Court missionary, said that in consequence of newspaper publicity, the sister of Borguis, who had not seen or heard of him for forty-two years and had long mourned him as dead, had come forward.

The old man passed the greater part of his life in Australia. His sister was the wife of an artisan at Cubitt Town, and was his junior by two years. There has been a most affectionate greeting between the old couple in Court. The sister was willing to assist her brother with a home, as he would soon be eligible for an old age pension. Horace Smith thought this a happy arrangement. After being photographed in the missionary’s room the old couple, quite happy, left together.