GERMAN RAIDER

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21207, 2 September 1940, Page 2

GERMAN RAIDER

ATTACK ON TURAKINA

REPORT IN AUSTRALIA

COMPLETENESS OF SE ARCH “Search for the raider that attacked the Turakina in the Tasman is being continued to-day by sea and air,” *aid the Minister for the Navy (MCameron), says the Sydney Sun. “The Australian Navy, the R.A.A.F., the New Zealand Navy and Air Force, are at work and every effort is being made to clear up the •ituation,” he added. Mr Cameron would not comment on how the news of the attack was released in New Zealand 24 hours before the Australian public was told Raiders have been reported within the last few weeks m other waters. July 4: An American Army plane sighted an unidentified submarine olf the Pacific entrance to Panama Canal. July 18: An enemy raider was operating off the West Indies. July 23: A submarine and a tanker, both unidentified, were seen leaving the Strait of Magellan. July 31: British auxiliary cruiser Alcantara caught a German raider oft Trinidad Island, 700 miles from the Brazilian coast, damaged the raider, which escaped behind a smoke screen, and herself received damage which forced her to break off the engagement. August 10: An unknown submarine sank the Yugoslav steamer Rad in the West Indies. It is doubted in London whether the raider that attacked the Turakina is the same which sank the Davisian and King John near the West Indies. Unless it steamed 9000 miles from Trinidad, where it was last reported, at full speed, it could not possibly have reached the Tasman Sea by now. The Tasman raider, however, may be a sister ship of the Narvik, the name by which the South Atlantic raider was known. Germany has about half a dozen such ships, including the Altmark, Dittmarchen, Ermland, Franken, . Samland and Westerwald. Captain of the Turakina “A tall, dark, fine-looking Scot, with a genial, you might say jovial, personality,” was the description given of Captain James Boyd Laird by one in Melbourne, who knew him well. One man said: “He is a fierce Scotch type, but is really a very kindly character.” Captain Laird’s advocacy of Aus- i tralian goods is proverbial. He has j taken many a case of Australian products home to Scotland with him, ] one of his favourites being Aus- j tralian canned fruit. He told every child he met in the United Kingdom about the butter with the kangaroo brand, and many children had written telling him they had discovered it and had persuaded their parents to buy it. He was most conscientious in his self-appointed duties as honorary geography master of the John Street Secondary School in Glasgow, attended by 1100 children, ages ranging from 12 to 18 years. The school adopted his ship under the Ship Adoption Society plan. Captain Laird gave a big party to the Glasgow children in the ship, and when it was abroad assisted them in their knowledge of the world by regular correspondence with them and by sending them stamps of every country he visited.