'HAPPY TO BE HERE'

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 181, 2 August 1941, Page 8

'HAPPY TO BE HERE'

JAPANESE CAPTAIN SPIRIT OF FRIENDLINESS "We are very happy to be here." Thus did Captain Baba, master of the Yamashita Kisen Kaisya motor vessel, Yomagiku Maru, now berthed at King's Wharf, sum up his feelings when visited on board this morning. Captain Baba wears a perpetual smile which helps him in conversation. His crew were all smiling, too, and if they could not speak English, they did their best and refused to be unduly worried about such a minor matter. The crew — and Captain Baba — kept smiling and met all comers in a spirit of eager friendliness. Twenty-seven days out from Miiki. the Yamagiku Maru was expected at Auckland last Monday. Questioned as to the rough weather which he had radioed he had experienced. Captain Baba said the ship ran into very bad conditions when about 600 miles from Auckland. She was forced to heave-to for eight hours, and for several days afterwards could only make slow progress. Attitude of Goodwill It was suggested to the captain that the international situation might have had something to do with the delay. He displayed polite interest and smiled with all the goodwill in the world. "Was that the reason?" he was asked. Captain Baba's smile widened and the question had to be left, at that. It was pointed out to him that the Canberra Maru had made Sydney after several days' delay. Was this also due to bad weather? The smile was most reassuring. Rather crestfallen, the "Star" reporter gave it up in the meantime and sipped the cup of sweetened Formosa tea which had been hospitably placed before him when he arrived. "What do the people in New Zealand think of Japan?" asked Captain Baba. suddenly taking the initiative. A vague answer was followed by the obvious question, on the> part of the reporter, as to what the people of Japan thought of New Zealand— and Australia. But no one can talk to a smile— even a smile as expressive as Captain Baba's. Russian Campaign As a final effort, Hitler's Russian campaign was brought up. The captain pointed out gently that he was so far from home that he was not very well up on the subject. Neither did he seem to be very interested. The reporter rose to go, but it was not until he was half-way up the wharf that he suddenly remembered the quality of the captain's smile which had accompanied his last words. "Good luck," Captain Baba had said. And his smile had been veryhappy indeed.