GERMAN VISITORS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 180, 1 July 1937, Page 7

GERMAN VISITORS

REFERENCE TO VON LUCKNER. INTERVIEW AT AUCKLAND, Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, June 30. “Count von Luckner is not coining here to spread Nazi propaganda, 1 can assure you that,” said Captain R. Koehler, Marine Superintendent at Sydney for the Hamburg-Amerika Line, who is visiting Aucklnd in connection with the visit of the German steamer Gera, which arrived yesterday from Gulf of Mexico ports. “He is a fine fellow and a great sport,” added Captain Koehler, who was a lieutenant aboard the German raider Moewc while Count von Luoknor was lieutenant-commander. “Ho is not like some of the older naval officers—very hard. Ho is a fine commander.

“Now, perhaps you can tell mo something. Why doesn’t Britain give us hack some of our colonies?” continued Captain Koehler. “Some of the arguments I have heard in Australia are very amusing. We are not so much concerned with Samoa and New Guinea as with Africa. We want somewhere to send our overflow of population so that they can grow raw materials and settle down in business. And another thing, Africa is much nearer home.”

Conditions in Germany at the present time are quite satisfactory, according to Captain Schmitt of the Gera. “We are just taking things quietly,” lie said. “The people are contented and are not grumbling. Herr Hitler is a good man and is doing his best for the general welfare of the people. The man who has a penny to spend lias to spend it to help the man who is in need.”

“Yes,” supplemented Captain Koehler, “Herr Hitler lias clone .a wonderful lot for Germany. Without him Germany would have been smashed long ago. People criticised him for rearming and building up the army, but what was he to do? He eoukl not have men walking the streets on the dole and having them trained in the army does not coyt much more than the dole. They say foreign people don’t trust Herr Hitler. We trust him, and if others do not, well (the captain shrugged) I can only say I’m sorry. Captain Schmitt said that the local ising of control under one head was a factor contributing greatly to the state of affairs in his country. Before there was considerable industrial strife, but those days went with the passing of party politics. He said there was no need for more than about half a dozen honourable men to run a country.

The Gera is more or less pioneering a new route for the company, but whether the sendee will continue is still indefinite. The difficulty, explained Captain Schmitt, was coal, there being no coaling stations between Panama and New Zealand. This meant that bunkers took up too much space. There was any amount of cargo offering, a.nd the cry of shippers in gulf ports uas for space and more space. The Gera brought .a quantity of deck cargo, as she had more than she could stow below the hatches. The Gera which is ot 5155 tons burden, will proceed via New Zealand ports to Australia, thence to South Africa and back to the Carribean.