LEAVING THE COUNTRY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2617, 12 November 1915, Page 6

LEAVING THE COUNTRY

MOANA'S BIG PASSENGER LIST ARE THEY SHIRKERS? As a rule tho number of steerage passengers who leave Wellington- for America by the San Francisco mailboats number about a dozen or so, but when the Moana left last evening, she had a complement of 63 steerage passengers. Of that number, three were women, and one of the men was tho husband of one of the women passengers. Of the remaining 58 stecrago passengers, only two were over 50 years of age, and the majority of them wero between 20 and 40 years of age. The assumption is that at least a proportion of these men had discovered a motive for leaving this country for' a neutral State, because of the information required of their condition in life by means of tho National .Register. The names of the male steerage passengers who left by the Moana are as under: —Messrs. D. O'Loan, J. O'Loan, Buckley, It. Hunt, T. Craig, J. Lyng, J. Wood, E. Carlan, C. Shovlin, T. Gallagher, P. Corlan, 0. Moran, J. Hamilton (passage worker), J. Cash, H. J. Levey, G. Livingston, T. Corkill, A. H. Wat-kins, R. Sullivan, Newman, Anton, F. Anderson, G. W. Anderson, Greer, TV P. Lowrie, D. Field, P. P- Kelly, J. Connell, A. Bone, H. Owen, Morgan, W. Jeffries, H. Campbell, J. Gavigan, A. Langley, C. Langley, French, F. Smith, W. Costello, O'Sullivan, O'Sullivan, M'Carthy (3), T. 0. Sullivan, H. M'Lcrnon, J. M'Lernon, A. M. and K. M. Ballantyne, H. L. and R. S. Bender, J. Nicholson, B. O'Connor, Goaley, N. O'Shea, 15. Bolger, P. Crowley, H. Hansen. * On it' becoming known that the num- , be.r of steorage passengers of military age was so greatly in excess of the average number carried by the Moana, it was on the cards that tho seamen's firemen would make trouble, and there was some talk of their refusing to go on board shortly before she sailed, but nothing came of it, and the Moana got «.\vay at about 6.20. At the Ship's Side. At the ship's side an expectant crowd awaited possible developments,, but the firemen did not walk out of the stokehold. Nobody had any attention to spa.ro for the genuino travellers, the few Americans, or tho women and children. All eyes were on a knot of very undemonstrative, sullen young, and middle-aged men hanging over tho rail in the steerage section of the deck. A cornet player on board the ship, who apparently understood what was afoot, played patriotic airs, "The Marseillaise" and "Rule Britannia," but this caused the voyagers no concern. When the time was "Tipperary," they .joined in with some heartiness, whereat individuals among the spectators here and there scoffed just a little. Presently the boat began to move off, and the crowd on deck seemed to be reinforced by other young men, who had pi eferred to remain out of sight. At tho first motion of the ship all sign, of anxiety vanished from the men's faces. They cheered and waved their hats for joy, and there was a distinct note of triumph and dofianco in their shouts. There were hclf-heartod mocking cheers from the bystanders. Some of the people on the wharf had come to see friends oif, and they cheered their friends. Moral Suasion. Tho anxious young men seemed to have few friends, if any. Indeed, one of tho men was rather severely handled by one of his friends an hour or two before the Moana left. The tripper was taken to a quiet parUof the wharf by his home-keeping friend. First of ail the friend offered good advico, then he tried expostulation and argument, but still tho young man persisted that ho would go. Then tho friend became vengeful, and boat this peace-loving voyager full sore with fish and boot. In spite of his trouncing, however, lie was one of the most joyful of the passengers when the ship cast off. The Last Batch? The Primo Minister stated yesterday that his attention had been called to the numbers of young men leaving by every American ' boat. He had noted the cable news message to tho effect that the British Government had issued a regulation requiring all British mile subjects over tho ago of 19 years _to obtain passports before embarkation from Britain, and the desirability of 1 issuing a similar regulation hero was ' being considered. Probably this will be 1 the last big shipment of young men to tho United States for a little time to como.