Schoolboy Kingston Darrell knew exactly what to do when he discovered $400 in cash outside his home - return the money to its rightful owner.

And yesterday the 11-year-old learned that honesty does pay after a visitor sent him a cheque for $50 as a reward.

Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill presented the $50 cheque on behalf of the visitor, who sent it to the newspaper after reading about Kingston's honesty in a July 31 letter to the Editor.

Kingston's mother, Lorraine Darrell, wrote the letter describing how her son returned $400 he found outside his home to the person who lost it - his great-uncle.

Mrs. Darrell wrote that she "wished for (her son) to always be of this nature".

The visitor, N. Britt Raynor, of New Jersey, responded in a letter of his own.

"The letter, written by 11-year-old Kingston Darrell's mother, talked about how her son found $50 near his house and continued to look, as if on a treasure hunt, and wound up finding a total of $400."

Mr. Raynor added: "I was also gladdened to see a representative of the youth of Bermuda with such an outstanding moral character. It says a lot about his parents and the entire population of Bermuda itself."

He said the letter did not mention a reward, so he made out a cheque of his own "as a special reward for a special young man".

"Please be so kind as to insure Kingston receives this token of appreciation," he said.

The Royal Gazette photo department was so impressed with Kingston that they doubled his money with another $50 donation. And Mr. Zuill pitched in $50 more for Kingston's class.

"The media often gets criticised for 'covering the bad news'," Mr. Zuill said. "But the media can also be a positive force in the community, as this episode shows.

"Being able to play a small part in passing this reward on to Kingston from Mr. Raynor has made my day."