GERMAN STEAMERS AT MANILA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1717, 26 May 1917, Page 4

GERMAN STEAMERS AT MANILA.

Following the break of relations between the United States and Germany, and the seizure by the American Government of German steamers detained in Philippine waters, suits involving the recovery of heavy damages for money and supplies given by Behn, Meyer, and Company, to the twenty-one German steamers detained in Manila, Cebu, and Zamboanga Bays, were filed recently in the court of first instance against the steamship companies owning those vessels, says a report, from Manila. The suits, twenty-one in all, one for each vessel, alleged that on Ist August, 1914, on account of the declaration war by Germany against a number of European nations, it) became necessary to detain German vessels plying on high seas in neutral ports. The plaintiff claims that it has been acting as agent; in the Philippines for those steamers. It asks for the attachment of the vessels pending decision by the court, for which it has filed bonds equivalent to the amount sought to be recovered in each case. Judge Ostrand has issued the writs of attachment prayed for. The defendant companies are Nordeutscher Lloyd 8. 8. Company, owning eleven of the vessels in question, the Hamburg-Amcrika line, owning four of them, the Deutsch-Austra-lisclie Dampschiffs-Gessellschaft, owning three of them, M. Jebson, owning two, and the Deutsch-Bup-see Phosphat A. G., owning one. It is alleged that these firms have their central offices in Germany, and have no other property in the islands than the ships they own. The amount sough) to be recovered includes not only the sum of money and cost of provisions given to each of those steamers for (heir maintenance and support of their crews, but also the. expenses incurred by Behn, Mercy and Company in transporting their cargoes.