THE "VON LUCKNER SEXTANT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1937, Page 6

THE "VON LUCKNER SEXTANT."

The Government, through the authorities of the National Museum, could do no better than adopt the suggestion of Mr. Harold Gatty and return to its maker the "von Luckner sextant." As Mr. Gatty says, the instrument is merely a war relic to New Zealand, and to restore it to the lad who made it, or failing that to his relatives, would be not only a graceful gesture on the part of one country to another, once its enemy, but would also cause considerable pleasure to the individuals concerned. Himself a distinguished navigator Mr. Gatty appreciates better than most of the thousands who have passed the sextant in the Museum the patience, ingenuity and effort which tfent to the making of a comparatively delicate instrument simply from odds and ends. Unless Mr. Gattv's 'suggestion is adopted, the sextant is fated to | lie, as it has lain, more or less unnoticed, its jremurkuble history forgotten, merely an ("exhibit" among thousands of others. There lis no doubt that the gesture of returning it would be appreciated in Germany no less than it would be in New Zealand if the circumstances were reversed.