TO-DAY'S HEARING.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 302, 19 December 1917, Page 5

TO-DAY'S HEARING.

_—— i Continuing his evidence this morning, ■ Lieijt.-Colonel Turner- stated that he had „ been slightly mistaken yesterday when he ' stated that the average, strength of the detachment on the island" before ' reduc- j tion was 35. tt was really between 32 • and 33. Witness stated that he had been ? called up for the inquiry at short notice from tlie island, tlie launch .only arriving for him at 12.30 o'clock yesterday mid- -, day. He had been under the impression , that the inquiry proper would no. commence till to-day, consequently he had not been prepared, and he had only been able to get his adviser late last night. His military reputation was at stake. . Ho held that he had already been prejudged by the public and- the Press, and | that time should be given him to consult . hiß adviser, who had not yet arrived. . This was agreed to by the Court. \ Continuing, witness gave evidence regarding the detail of the detachment on ( the island. The men there, he said, were • all trained men, and were available for J duty in case of alarm or other necessity. . Of the whole detachment an average of j five men were always on leave. When . the reduction of the detachment was ' made the detachment' was-employed as under: Eight were employed as police and patrols. There were two police on leave, and two spare men in case of sick- i ness or other emergency. There was also ' one sergeant-major, one quartermaster- ' sergeant, one orderly-room clerk, one J supply corporal, one corporal, one cook, i one officer's orderly, one N.C.O.'s messman, one bugler, and one carpenter. < THE SEEADLER'S OFFICERS. \ With regard to the arrival of the two Seeadler's officers, they were confined to i the barrack yard and avenue. The pre- , caution was adopted "<n order to keep the men under close surveillance until he had:, time to decide what liberty the men! ; might be given. He also warned the | ; whole of the detachment that greater ; precautions were necessary. He made no '. report' to higher authority regarding - these men, as they had been sent to him, I and he had to do the best he could. When |. they arrived he received a letter from • the director of personal services saying : that these two prisoners required extra j, surveillance. On Tuesday, October 9, ho (j was ordered to send two prisoners to j i I Wellington. In order to catch the train ! 'it' was necessary .to send them in the only motor launch available, namely, the ;-, Pearl, which was his boat. Thi6 was the . only-opportunity of being in his boat or-; near it up to the time of their escape. | : The prisoners were returned to the island jthree days later. I, ' A TRANSFER. _~- |« On November 10,-1917, the Minister of ' Defence (Hon. Sir James Allen) visited ; . the island. During the visit witness \ pointed out to the Minister that the : , men comprising the guard were of. the ; C 2 Class, and therefore not. of the same i, strong physique as the prisoners. While j going the rounds, : the' Minister interviewed Count yon Luckner, and the j. latter asked for a transfer of his four ■'• men from Somes Island, .of at least that ; he might his leading seaman (Erdmann) as en orderly. After leaving the ' prisoners, the Minister remarked' to wit- ■ ness that he did not think the transfer advisable. A few 'days-later, however, - Erdmann arrived at the- island,, having seen sent up from Somes Island. Oh the following day witness went to Auckland, and -was' directed by Colonel Patterson to see the Minister of Defence, who had expressed concern regarding the fact , that the detachment Was unarmed. He.' wanted to know also where the rifles were kept. Witness explained the rea- ;, sons, i stating that in consequence of a conversation with General .Robin in July j the alteration from the standing guard I to -military police had been • made in I' j order to reduce,the cost of the maintenl anee for the island.. Witness .told the | Minister that he had just prepared a statement regarding the reduced cost, The second footnote on this statement read as follows: "The nominal strengthof the guard up to August 1 was 35. This has been reduced to 24 with a system of police patrols in the place of standing guards." Continuing, -witness stated that the Minister did not suggest any alteration in the system at that time. --.-" INTERVIEW WITH THE GENERAL. . Under instruction witness came to district headquarters to interview General Robin, Commandant of the New Zealand' Forces. A number of -questions were • asked by the General regarding the sys- I tern of protection, about the censoring of I all parcels and letters to prisoners, and j also about the censoring of any parcels sent to the Government agricultural de- | pot on the island. Witness was .also I questioned about the launch Pear], and

las far as he could remember, he' explained to him that he was using two .German prisoners as engineer and deck- I hand, as no one in his (witness's) detachment was capable of working the I launch. Witness also explained that the i use of the launch led to certain economy,! and l that an escort of two soldiers was usually provided, comprising either himself or two of the. men. The General al3o inquired about visitors to the prisoners, and witness informed him that the one visitor he objected to most was a lady, the wife of one of the interned men, who had obtained a pass from a' higher authority. He did not. consider that there was any danger Whatever from the visits of the wives of other prisoners. In witness's opinion the General was apprehensive regarding the Seeadler. Colonel Patterson was present during the interview; at which the General emphasised tho necessity for economy. EXTRA PRECAUTIONS. Before returning to the island Colonel Patterson informed hint that on account of some information about some scows he was going to send some launches to patrol Motuihi, but they would not call at-the island. On the following evenin"-,' at nine o'clock, he met a launch at the wharf, ani Major Price, A.A.G., who was in the launch, handed him a secret letter, which only contained details about the' .patrol launches. Witness asked Major Price what it was all about, and the latter replied that from information received it was supposed that there would be an attempt to assist the prisoners to escape. Witness remarked to Major Price that his detachment was not strong enough to resist a landing and to guard the.prisoners in their quarters as well. Major Price stated that the launches would patrol the island if witness would look after the prisoners. Hestated further that his own launch could receive a signal when witness had his dispositions arranged. The signal was to be the waving of a hurricane lamp, arid Major Price would reply with one long flash. ' Witness posted foul men and a corporal at. the guard-room, six men and a corporal at the night quarters, a sergeant and six men across the narrow neck .by the old wharf, a corporal cook and two men in charge of the barracks. He. had the■ chest of spare rifles ' taken ." into the bush and hidden. All the ammunition on the island was issued to the men. The following day "they went back to the normal conditions. "Witness was told

• —-_-__-! that the patrols were to be continued > that night, and he placed half the de- & tachment under arms, except that the men on the narrow neck were taken oft. ; The half-detachment was sleeping, fully dressed and armed. The same programme was carried out on the day following. On this day he rang 'up headquarters and informed them that if this were to bo /- .- continued he must be reinforced at once. -*fm. Witness himself and the non-commis- 'M& sioned officers had been tip all night for / "two nights running, and had to carry ou*.., . | their day duties as welL Witness could jig not remember what reply he had re- ;|fJJ ceived, but as a result cease 4, to take tho «•; extra precautions, but he put on two w ; extra armed men at night from 11 p-m. - -;.; ■» till daylight. These two men were to * patrol the cliffs and at the back of pri- 1 soners' barracks. Aa a result he did not have sufficient' men for patrol work during the day. At the same time visits were made to the southern portions oi the island voluntarily by men not on j duty, and now and then by witness. On November 28 two men were sent by district headquarters on loan for patrol purposes,' but their conduct'was such that, he . did not consider, them 'suitable, and he returned them to tpwh next mor_.';SAFEGUARDING THE LAUNCH. -As far as ho could remember, during - the scare a system of telephone messageto Auckland 'was introduced under Colonel Patterson's instructions. The latter was to be rung up from the guardroom at 12 o'clock midnight every night, when be gave instructions as to what ,other hours at which be was-to be rung! up during the night. This 'was done to test the communications. ■ The telephone jWas in such constant use during the. day and. evening, because there were eight other places connected with the line, 'that special communications were not ,considered_ necessary. These general arrangements were now carried on as a j normal procedure. The safety of the , 'launch was•;assured., by the removal of - the sparking plugs and castings when they went ashore. These were, removed by the engineer, who was a German prisoner. This man would bring them to witne.se' quarters. The man did nob' I follow immediately, as the dinghy would only hold two, and. the escort and witness landed ; on the wharf first. The two , Germans took the launch to the moorings because the dinghy -would only hold two. Usually witness remained and kept the launch in view until the dinghy cam. ashore. Almost invariably when witness returned from Auckland the • sergeant- ; major would.meet him at the wharf, and was accompanied by a 'N.C.O. -he, two prisoners, when' they: landed from tho dinghy," would take the-sparking, plugs and-the paddles up to witness' quarters, leaving the dinghy On the beach. It would-be possible for the two men nob "■: to be* under observation from' .the time they left-the dinghy. Tho sparking-plugs were kept in a, drawer in witness' room. \ , This drawer was not locked, but only the - orderly, knew where they were kept. The spare rifles were kept in an. arm* chest under the bed in the orderly corporal's room. This'room was kept locked during the day, and _ was occupied only toy the orderly corporal and another man at night. The. ammunition was kept locked in the sergeant-major's room. Witness ; allowed the police to carry revolvers, ancl he believed that.there were sufficient to arm all those on duty. In the daytime there were no rifles in the. .guard-room. In-the event of someone„making. for the •launch, in an attempt to get away'witit, Witness was of the opinion that it | would take ten minutes before the men could be _red upon, provided, the prisoners took the most favourable route. !In that time the launch could be at least ia. mile away from the island. The inquiry *-wae adjourned at this' 'stage in order that a visit might be paid Ito the island: •