KILLING OF WHALES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 137, 7 December 1938, Page 15

KILLING OF WHALES

OIL CARPO SEIZED

TREATY VIOLATION ALLEGED

(Received December 7, 2.55 a.m.)

NEW YORK, December 6.

In the first case of its kind in the history of the Federal Courts authorities boarded the American whaler Frango and seized portion of its mil-lion-dollar cargo of whale oil, due to alleged violation of the international treaty limiting the killing of whiles. A similar seizure was made on the tanker Watertown which transported part of the Frango's cargo from Sharks Bay, West Australia.

The treaty, which prohibits the killing of whales under 35 feet in length and of suckling females or calves, was allegedly continuously violated under the eyes of an American coastguard officer, Lieutenant Midtyng, who accompanied the vessel as an observer under the treaty 'and whose every warning was disregarded. Midtyng, according to officials, was "in a precarious position almost constantly. He was on the trip for three months and he regarded each day with new, apprehension." .' - V The Frango arrived at Sharks Bay on June 26 and departed on "October 1. Its total kill was 900 with a harpoon carrying an explosive bomb that shattered the whales. <

A spokesman for the owners of the Frango insisted that it is impossible to tell the specific size of a whale while it is on the water and that the customary procedure is to accept a fine for undersized whales killed. The Federal District Attorney stated ;that the prosecution of the Frango's owners is contemplated.