MORE EXILES ARRIVE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 255, 23 July 1919, Page 8

MORE EXILES ARRIVE

j PRINZESSIN BERTHED ' r

'OTHERS STILL AWAITING A STEAMER - J The ex-German liner Prinzessin, which recently .brought a draft of returned I soldiers, .tQ Wellington from kngland,. I arrived -back from a trip to Newcastle land"'Sydney yesterday morning, and was (berthed at the Glasgow Wharf at noon. I The steamer having shipped 3000 tons '.of' coal at Newcastle for the New Zeaj land "Railways, called at Sydney (under an arrangement with the New Zealand ' Government) lo pick .up passengers tor : tho Dominion who have been held up : 'ffiere 'by "tlie maritime strike. Her com- ' pleinent consisted of about 375 pas=eiis sers 220 of whom were first-class, and i the 'remainder third-class. Most °f tho ! passengers were New Eealanders 6vho I had ken dotained in Sydney for some • weeks, if' not months, and tibough tnej i paid no compliments to tho weather e\- ; perien'eed on the run across all gere i. 'thankful to get baok once more. Onlj !'• two "classes were provided for on the I Pririzessin—first and third—and nearlj i all of those who had to travel : class had to sleep in the one big cabin ' forward, in bunks slung closely together, t The quaitera, as-viewed by a r e '- ,olt "' ! ware- just a big 'tween decks forward, I With heaps of hammocks lying round, rHjribwrsATSW ; on the main deck that was provided for ! the troops had to suffice.

i ' Sydney's Exiles Nearly All Here. ! i IT T, Innes who was a member of the j.ghsx i>iS-SriSs Mr Innes believes that all in ■ 'Sydney who wished urgently to reach i /ew Zealand, were on.boaid the Prinz f-. ,e6 Trom other passengers it was learned ; + |, a t tijere, were many exiles disappointed rat not ting able to get Vhe - Prinzessin, notably some two hixairM f 1 said , that tho sailing of the p " nzes |l" J: was not advertised in Melboui\ a ifs ' pereonally received a day and 9 half» '' notice that the boat .was sailing...and f' rushed •to Sydney, and was successful ' in'securin" a berth, but he knew of over. ! TBred others inMelbourne who ; eould not have been B™ l,aT^ f otherwise they would have left nith

; of the* passengers .were Inclined to-"blame the New Zealand Government i representative in Melbourne, who, th y ' state, made a mistake in attempting to r deal direct ■ with the steamer 6 agents, w- : S of through Mr. Blow, who had ' evorything at his finger-tips. The. genei ral conclusion arrived at was that thpre P" were still from 200 to 250 perple who i have' awaited, passages to Kew Zealand ' . for a oonple of months or more, mostly : ' located in Melbourne. ,One and all dci •• lieve they have been very hardly dealt ! . with' by the New Zealand Government j: and speak bitterly of what they call the i xitter lack of consideration shown by T the Minister of. Internal Affairs.

. ■ Alleged Breach of Faith. Mr A. E. Batt, who was chairman of the' exiled New Zealanders n SjdMy (and who returned by the Manuka), was on the 'wharf to meet the when she > arrived yesterday. He said that he .saw very few among the pass™wfcs who lined-the bulwarks thai were known to him, and thought that it was a scandal that others should bo brought over in preference to bona-fide New Zealanders. "Tho Government, ho eald, "stated that the Prinzessin was to bring back, bona-fide New . Ze&-anders before 'anyono else. Why, there sa vaudeulle company of thirty or forty people on board. They're not New. Zealanders And-1 don't see people who should be there! . Mr. Solomon Myers showed me a cablegram yesterday stating that his wife and son had been shut out oj the Prinzessin after having tickets issued to /them—and yet. they can bring, over a'crowd "of vaudeville performers, .who should, rank about tenth on 'classificabe seven days at midnight tonight since the Prinzessin left Sydney for ■Wellington, so that, according, to their eelf-imposed restriction, the. watersiders will 'riot commence work with her discharge .of coal (for the railways) until tft-JEflrrqw morning. .