VON LUCKNER’S VISIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 April 1938, Page 4

VON LUCKNER’S VISIT

MISSING HEADGEAR RESTORED. INCIDENTS IN TARANAKI. Count Felix von Luckner’s visit to Taranaki will probably stand out in his memory as responsible for as much incident as any part of his New Zealand lecture tour. More letters protesting against his appearance were written per capita in South Taranaki than in any other part of the Dominion, he countered the “spying” theory by being taken 20 miles in the wrong direction without knowing enough of the country’s geography to be aware of the fact, and he lost his famous and prized peaked cap. For those who do not let life greatly worry them, however, there is ncpoint in crying over spilt milk. The count dismissed the newspaper correspondence with a shrug of the shoulders and he regarded the journey in the wrong direction as an adventure, but he did not relish the loss of his naval peaked cap and its distinctive badge.

The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the headgear are mysterious, and must remain so. It vanished during an entertainment to the Count after his address at Hawera on Tuesday night. Inquiries and a search were useless and the visitor was resigned to his loss when he left, although he was probably not overimpressed with the generosity of some Hawera hospitality.

The cap has been found. The circumstances surrounding its discovery are almost as mysterious as those of its loss, and perhaps it would not be politic to say more than that the missing property was picked up early on Wednesday morning on a playing area not far from the scene of its disappearance, little the worse for wear. The name was inside, in gold letters on a blue cloth covered by cellophane, and the finder, a returned man, formed the impression it had been thrown to the spot where he found it. He took the cap home, and there it remained, a skeleton in the cupboard, for two days. It could not be returned to the police, for who could say that they might not look askance at him returning the headgear? The finder flatly refused to return, the cap to the place when it was lost, and on Thursday night he solved the problem by packing the cap in a box and posting it to the German consul at Wellington. He sent a covering letter to the consul and anothei’ to the Count, in which he told the owner of the hat he was very lucky to have it back, as the finder was a returned soldier who would have liked to "souvenir'’ his find.

Those responsible for the Count’s visit to Hawera were much relieved at the recovery of his cap and when informed that it was in the safe keeping of the post office and on the way to Wellington a long-distance telephone call was made to Masterton. where the Count was lecturing, to inform him of the discovery.