MADE NAURU PAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 309, 30 December 1940, Page 4

MADE NAURU PAY.

AUCKLANDER'S WORK.

MANAGER UNDER GERMANS

Memories of the days when the phosphate trade was just beginning were recalled to-day by a retired mariner, Captain Peter Theet, of Oratia, near Auckland, who was manager on the island for six years when it was a German colony before the last war. At the age of 87, Captain Theet still has lively recollection* of Ifauru at that time.

"We had a lot of fuft there," he said with a chuckle. "They let me fly the British flag over my office, but made me have the German flag on my house. They tried to make me take on Germans •t the works, but they were not much use, so I managed to keep a good number of Britishers. I wanted to make the trade pay, and it paid well in the years I was there."

It was only by chance that he was appointed manager, he said. At the •time, about 1907, he was on Ocean Island and was well known around the Pacific Islands, where he had been trading in windjammer days. Be ins a Dane, from North Schleswig, he could speak German well, and this, combined with the knowledge of phosphates he had gained at Ocean Island, influenced the Germans in selecting him. The German Colonial Office regarded him as a satisfactory compromise. "The Governor of Ne>W Guinea visited Nauru occasionally, and we struck up to friendly acquaintanceship," continued Captain Theet. "When I left the island just before the war broke out the trade was steadily growing, although it was only very small compared with what it la to-day." ' One of his achievements was the laying of moorings in the great depths ■where ships had to swing at anchor iwhile taking in phosphate from lighters. He had put down moorings of 100 and 150 fathoms at various other places, but at Nauru the shallowest spot that was suitable was 200 fathoms deep. Using old-fashioned methods, he connected up three-inch chains with patent four-ton anchors, and as they were lowered other ichains were added, finishing up with eight-inch wire hawsers, which gave a ■ecure hold for ships In any weather when the. lighters could be worked from the shore.

The electricity system was started ■while he was on Nauru, and 'his successor, a civil engineer, was chosen chiefly for his engineering ability. At that time the Australian demand for Nauru and Ocean Island phosphate was only 20,000 to 30,000 tons a year, which hardly scratched the surface of the island's enormous reserves of 100,000,000 tons. Less than 20 yeara later shipments of phosphates from the two islands amounted to more than half a million tons annually. "I'd like to have a go at Hitler," nid Captain Theet when the interview ended.