VISIT OF COUNT VON LUCKNER

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22110, 4 June 1937, Page 12

VISIT OF COUNT VON LUCKNER

. ♦ LABOUR PROTESTS IN AUSTRALIA NAZI PROPAGANDA NOT TO BE ALLOWED traow ott» o-rrm cokbxspoitdzxt.) SYDNEY, May 28. • Australia: has received the news of Count- Felix von Luckner's projected voyage "off propaganda for German ideals? to Australia and to New Zealand with mixed feelings. It is felt in many quarters that Count von Luckner would be welcomed as a private citizen on a holiday visit, but , that Australians could not tolerate a visit that had as its basis straight-out propaganda, Official expression to these feelings was given this week by the Minister for the Interior (Mr T. Paterson), when he said that if Count von Luckner sought permission to land in Australia he would be cautioned against making any statement or using propaganda that might be detrimental to law and order in this country. . Both Mr Paterson and the Minister for External . Affairs (Sir George Pearce) have made it perfectly clear that sufficient powers exist under both Commonwealth and state laws to prevent Count von Luckner issuing propaganda in Australia. Several letters have appeared in the columns of the leading newspapers from citizens, protesting against the visit. But the principal organised opposition has come from Labour groups. The Sydney Trades Hall Council decided to remind the Federal Ministry that it excluded the author, Kisch, on the ground that his beliefs were incompatible with those of the people of Australia. But the council would go no farther because delegates were warned that any decision might be used by the Federal Ministry against the trade union movement in other cases. The Carnegie branch of the Labour Party was more outspoken. It decided that the Labour movement in Australia should "take every action to prevent Count von Luckner from landing in Australia and spreading Nazi ideas." Basis of Objection Most of the people and organisations protesting have been careful to say that the fact that Count von Luckner is a German does not matter. What does matter, they say, is that he intends to disseminate propaganda of a kind that might not be desirable. It is well known that Count von Luckner commanded the German raider. Sea Adler, during the war and was eventually captured in the Fijian Islands, but many people were surprised to learn this week that he lived for some years in Perth before the War. and for some months in Brisbane. He returned to Germany before war/ was declared.. He was a good navigator and. in the war years, was credited with sinking about 200.000 tons of Allied shipping (mostly British) without causing the loss of a single life. His treatment of prisoners was always chivalrous. Apart from the propaganda mission Count von Luckner has said manv times since the war that one of hi" great desires was to revisit Australia and New Zealand. He said he liked tho people and the climate, and had many friends of long standing in both countries.