GHASTLY FREMANTLE STORY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 181, 21 October 1927, Page 1

GHASTLY FREMANTLE STORY

EIGHT DEAD OR IN DEATHLY COMA SHIP-SEARCHERS^WEAR GAS MASKS

By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. Received 11.5 a.m. FREMANTLE, To-day. FOLLOWING the discovery of the Chinese landed from the Dutch steamer Arendskerk, at Sydney, Customs officers closely searched her sister ship, the Almkerk, on her arrival from Holland. Deep down in the bowels of the ship, cooped in a small ballast tank, they found 54 Chinese, all of them unconscious. The lid of the tank had been closed on the arrival of the vessel in port, and cargo had been stacked over it.

The Customs officers are reticent., but one account says the Chinese had been in the tank tor three days without food or light. Eight were either dead or in a deathlike coma. Gas-masks had to be worn by the searchers who were removing the Chinese. In the bottom of the tank was a foot of water. It is stated that it was the captain's intention to flood the tank for ballast, when the cargo was removed from the hold.—A. and N.Z. RAID ON GARDENS CHINESE ARRESTED WEAK AND EMACIATED Two taxi-drivers called at the office of a Sydney newspaper after reading of the mysterious midnight landing of smuggled Chinese at Cremorne. As a result of what they related about being hired to drive emaciated Chinese to gardens kept by their countrymen, the police made a search. As they approached one garden there was a scatter of the Chinese working there, and the officers gave chase and caught two, a third making good his escape. The hut was' then cearched. In a "lean-to” roofed with galvanised iron and enclosed with old fruitesses and kerosene tins, they found a young man lying on a bunk. He presented a piteous appearance, the awful ordeal through which he

had passed had left its mark upon his face. His eyes were starting out of his head, he lay on his back gasping for breath, quivering with terror, unable even to sit up. The sick man by signs asked that some bedclothing be put over him, and for water to drink. Beside the bed was a bottle of liniment and a tin or condensed milk. So dark was the den in which he lay that the officers had to use torches to see him. Of the two who tried to escape but were caught by the officers, one, who claimed to be 52 years of age, but who looked considerably younger, was interrogated regarding his admission to Australia. He spoke English fairly well, and as proof of his bona-fides produced an “Alien’s Identification Card,” issued during the war. This bore the finger-prints of the person to whom it was issued, and when compared with the finger-prints of this man who claimed it as his own there was no similarity. With the sick man, and the owner of the garden, this Chinese was taken into custody. MYSTERIOUS TRAFFIC A Sydney cablegram of October 13 read as follows: “At a late hour on Tuesday night a ship’s boat drew alongside the rocks at Cremorne Point, and about a dozen Chinese, in a more or less emaciated condition, were hustled ashore and driven off in two taxis. The police were immediately informed, and raids were made on Chinese market gardens in several suburbs, and other haunts. A number of Chinese, suffering from malnutrition, some so weak as to be unable to walk, have since been arrested. A message of October 17 Said:—One of the Chinese who were mysteriously landed at Cremorne Point on Tuesday night has died in hospital. Three quartermasters from the Dutch steamer Arendskerk have been arrested, and charged with being directly concerned with the coming to the Commonwealth of prohibited immigrants. DUTCH STEAMERS The Almkerk, formerly known as the Waltham Abbey, is a steamer of 7,062 tons gross register. She was built in 1913, and is owned by the Vereenigde Nederland Scheepv Maats. Her port of registry is The Hague. The Arendskerk, formerly known as the St. Alban’s Abbey, is owned by the same company.