THE MAN WHO CAPTURED VON LUCKNER.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17317, 1 December 1921, Page 4

THE MAN WHO CAPTURED VON LUCKNER.

AN UKREWABDED TEAT. (ntOIC OT/B OWM CORBBSrONSBNT.) SYDNEY, November 22. Sub-Inspector H. C. Hills, the man who captured, practically single-handed, the notorious sea-raider Von Luckner, by one of the biggest bluffs on record in the war, iB in Sydney; and in an article headed "A Neglected Hero," the Sydney "Sunday Times" urges that generous recognition Bhould be made of his plucky feat. "We, as a nation, are curiously short of memory .where our war heroes are concerned," the "Times" says. "Hills' feat is one of the greatest epics of the war, yet the .hero ot' the incident to-day is' without a job, down to his last shilling, and has been obstinately refused, a penny-piece of the £I4OO priee-money which should be his legal due. To plead his cause before tne then Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Milner, Hills gave up a Government job in New Zealand, and worked his way before the mast to London. There Lis case was laid before the great man, who, whilst he would not see him personally, deputed his private secretary, Mr Jones, to inform' him that the claim could not be entertained because Hills was not a Civil Servant at the time of the exploit, and not a member of either the Navy or Army. Not only has Mr Hills, for the outstanding service he rendered to his country, received no reward in any shape or form, but he was for months completely stranded in London, and, finding himself penniless, was forced to draw the unemployment dole for his' very existence. He has worked his passage Mack again to Australia oh the Barradine, and is off to New Zealand to try and get a job in his old Department—the Customs. Failing this, he will try in New Guinea or Papua. There is something rotten in the selection of our national honours if such a glaring instance of official ingratitude and ineptitude is to pass unremedied." After narrating the circumstances of the capture in Fiji, where Hills was an official at the time, the article concludes: "A grateful country awarded Hills nothing for this exploit, and he accordingly Tiled a claim for prizemoney (£1400) on June 27th, 1918, in the Supreme Court of Fiji. Nothing came of this, and as he could not afford to ask for a Royal Commission, he characteristically chucked his job and went to beard the lion in his den in London —with what result has already been told. But everyone was not so callous. Hills has with him a beautifully engrossed and decorated testimonial in album form signed by most of New Zealand's best known citizens. The* man who is chiefly responsible for working up interest in this testimonial is Mr H. E. Partridgej-of Auckland, who was the first man—in spite of his 75 years of age—to take up Mr Hills's case in New Zealand, and who secured for Hills this beautiful address, which impressed even Viscount Milner when he was shown it. When we consider what Mr Hills's exploit really meant, how probably another million pounds' \%orth of damage to shipping in Australian waters and commerce was prevented, it seems that the big interests in Australia might well concern themselves in this case. Von Luckner is regarded as a national hero in Germany, and is enjoying wide popularity and success on a lecture tour. With Hills, how different is the case. The conqueror of Von Luckner, unknown and unrecognised, is striving to get work in th* country that owes him to much."