FLAG INCIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 303, 22 December 1926, Page 12

FLAG INCIDENT.

I JAPS. VERSUS AUSTRALIAN. I THERE "WERE TOO MANY. ! i SAVAGE FIGHT AT SEA. I (From Onr Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY. December 16. \ Deep significance i? attached hi offi- ■ c:al quarters to a brulai attack made by ! Japanese divers on an ex-naval man, ! (leorge Sitwell. when he attempted to j ! remove t'.ie Japanese flag froui the hal- ! J yard; of a British rhip. I The incident occurred at Broome, 'West j Australia, and the Japanese—Ton Juri j ! Kowakita. Fukoka. and Kahama Kinjiro , — wt-rc chargc-d on Wednesday before the , ! r.'-Mi-n; magistrate at Broome. Colonel j Maui-iiridge, with having assaulted SitI well ".'i v Britisli ship on the high seas. Sitwell's evidence was to the effect that i.'ii September 13, he found the Jap-nnc-e flap flying from tlie halyards of the luppvr Ouida, on which the Japanese were employed. lie called Kinjiro, apd demanded , that it be removed. The Japanese refusml to obey. Then, as Sitwell pulled it down him--elf. he was rushed by Kowalata. whom be knocked out with a straight left. Immediately the other two Japanese joined ' in the attack, and. using jiu-jitsu holds, soon downed Sitwell. He was being severely handled by his assailants when a lugger sailed over to the Ouida, and its white owner stepped aboard and saved Sitwell's life. Although the attack occurred in September, it was impossible to bring the accused into Broome before la-t week. The Japanese, pleading that Sitwell had started the fight, said they had run up the Japanese flag as a signal to a cargo boat. It was the only signal they they. Colonel Mansbridge fined Kowalata and Kukoka £o each, but discharged