The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1918. THE ENDLETZBERGER SCANDAL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 434, 13 December 1918, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1918. THE ENDLETZBERGER SCANDAL.

"We nothing extenmte, nor ie( down auaht in malice

Had not public attention been very much taken up with the epidemic and the wordy dispute between the Minister for Health and the Mayor of Auckland a very great deal more would have been heard of the outrage which was committed upon the whole commuuity when the notorious Endletzberger, whom every sense of what Is due to the dead and the maimed sons of New Zealand should have prompted us to treat as an outlaw —as a beast too despicable to have been for a moment allowed at large In any British community—was allowed to visit Rotorua.

That Endletzberger should have been set free from internment, and allowed to move about the country at all, was discreditable enough to those responsible tor it; that of all places in New Zealand he should have been permitted to go where hundreds of our badly wounded soldiers provide a dally object-lesson as to what we have got at the hands of such as he is so surpiising an insult to them and to all of us that It is absolutely incomprehensible how it occurred.

Endletzberger arrived at one of the best hotels in Rotorna, preceded by a wive to the landlord to say that a telegram was to be sent if the guests there resented the intrusion, showing that fear was entertained before he got there that trouble would ensueHe was under the escort of a boyofficer, who actually ate and drank in the public dining room, sitting with his prisoner to all outward appearance in perfect good fellowship. British girls had to put up with the indignity ot waiting on him at table. A returned New Zealand soldier was expected to clean his boots What could those who sent him have expected but that the guests would resent an insult such as this. They at once revolted, the police were called in, and Endletzberger ejected. He took refuge in a private house, but the officer in charge of him remained at the hotel, and for the remainder of his visit the prisoner roamed at large, as free as any man in Rotortia. And who can tell how he gloated over the wrecks of humanity he .saw around him and gloritd in the handiwork of his people and their allies ? And all this when every day we hear of the unmentionable brutalities of the enemy to our own soldiers who have been unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. I

This matter can hardly be allowed to rest where it is. We do not blame the Ministerfor Defence in the matter. He was humbugged into the beliet that Mrs Rayner and her husband were of the opinion that the only thing that

could save the former's life wis the .sending of Endletzberger '.o prescribe for her. Sir Jam s Allen made an error of judgment uo doubt, but it was due in the natural kindliness of bis disposition, a kindliness that has bet n displayed over and over again during the war period. He las plainly been the victim of nr.splaced confidence. But we thir.k the people of New Zealand are entitled to receive an assurance from hin that they will never again see any of these outlaws at large among them and also that at the signing of peace that they will be deported to where they belong.