MANY STOWAWAYS

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 436, 18 May 1937, Page 2

MANY STOWAWAYS

PROBLEM IN BRITAIN Determined Young Men Xz London, May 3. British shipping companies are facing the largest stowaway problem in , their history. There axe two reasons —the Coronation and the rearmament programme. Not only are the adventurous onces seeking a free sight of the Coronation celebrations, but hundreds of them are hoping also to obtain work during the rearmament boom. • In recent months there’ has been an average of two prosecutions' each week of stowaways arriving in British ports, to say nothing of the number of self-smuggled passengers who may have bribed their way ashore undetected. Heavier Penalties. From now on the prosecutions must inevitably increase, .for large numbers of young men who cannot afford their passage from overseas are known to be determined to reach Britain, whether they have tickets and passports' or not. Heavier penalties are being inflicted, since it is known that there is an ever-increas-ing number of men who are hiding themselves in ships leaving American and Dominion ports. “It it no joke spending two or three days in a coal bunker,” a former ship’s master said 'this week. “A man may be killed by the sudden shifting of a mass of coal. Another method is to crawl underneath the tarpaulin cover of one of the ship’s' boats. Dangers of Chain Locker. “I remember a lad,” he said, “a student at Melbourne University, who did this. He was a fine sight when he finally crawled out on to the deck after three days. He could not stand upright and was half-dead through lack of food and water.” But the most dangerous place, it appears, is in the chain locker. The raising or lowering of the anchor may crush a person to pieces among the huge iron links of the chain. A stowaway has to work on board for his keep. The law says that-he “shall be deemed to belong to the ship,” and he is subject to the same discipline as lhe crew, except that he draws no wages and must face a Court upon arrival, unless verv lucky. - ■ Problems of Aliens. Difficult problems sometimes arise in connection with alien stowaways. There are some who literally have no nationality, or who possess no papers and are unable to prove nationality. The authorities of |th.e country where they stowed away refuse to receive ' them. Britain will have non e of them. What is to be done.? It is whispered that sometimes they are just, “lost.” They are placed on board a vessel and then, in some foreign port, they slip ashore. The problem is solved.