DIVING FOR PEARLS

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 427, 7 May 1937, Page 2

DIVING FOR PEARLS

FATALISTS AND PLEASURE I - . Anticipation Of Hazards Pearl divers of the Australian coast, who demand, and get, as much as £2OO for a season’s work, recently celebrated their 1937 contracts by feasting, Japanese divers and tenders have -signed their {contracts and been paid advances up to £l5O, according to skill. Although all divers are fatalists, hey know that each time they descend into the ocean depths may be [heir last. Twenty-eight divers have lost their lives off the Australian Coast, most of they from the dreaded paralysis caused by excessive air pressure. It is because the diver knows that any day his lugger may return to Darwin with the red flag at the mast as a signal that a dead diver is on board, that the demand for the advance i s made. Malay divers prepare huge feasts of raw fish, with vinegar, curried ?oat, and roast chicken. The Japanese indulge mostly in liquor. If their life is doomed to be short they ensure that the last few days will be spent in an orgy of pleasure.