MONOLITHS STOLEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 12

MONOLITHS STOLEN.

FRANCO-BELGIAN PARTY,

EASTER ISLAND STATUES. (From Otir Own Correspondent.) SAN. FRANCISCO, January 7. The huge stone monuments from the lost continent of "Lemuria," on Chilianowned Easter Island, whose age and origin have for generations baffled archaeologists, have now become the object of a diplomatic incident. According to a letter from the Santiago offices of the Nippon Yu.sen Kaisha Steamship Company, received by Ben Fuller Reyes at the San Francisco offices of the steamship concern, the Chilian Minister in Paris has registered a sharp protest against the action of a Franco-Belgian expedition which visited the island recently. Members of the expedition are alleged to have removed a number of the mysterious monuments. The Chilian Minister has also been instructed,' following the protests of a number of scientific bodies, to take steps for the return of these antiquities. The Chilian Congress has hurriedly passed a bill declaring Easter Island to be a national momfment owned by Chile, and making it an offence to destroy, damage or remove any of the monuments. A deputy, in addition, announced that he proposed to introduce another bill protecting the Island of Juan Fernandez—Robinson Crusoe's deserted isle—from the depredations of travellers.