THE 'FLYING CLOUD' SWINDLE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3037, 20 April 1867, Page 5

THE 'FLYING CLOUD' SWINDLE.

To the Editor of the Daily Soutjmrn Cbos». Sir,— Well knowing your desire to help the poor, especially under such distressing circumstances, we now appeal to the public, through your columns, to aisist one hundred or more helpless passengers who have been duped, through a gigantic commercial iwindle, of their last shilling, which they have been long struggling to procure, in order to leave a oountry in which they find it impossible to earn an hone»t livelihood. Our desire w to land in California ; and, notwithstanding all the hardships we have already endured, we would gladly undergo more to land in a country where we could live without the assistance of any Government. There are many passengers on board who were obliged to part with articles of clothing in order to procure the passage money, and the Superintendent, who honoured us this day with his ! presence, kindly iuformed the passengers that he cannot in any way help us to leave this port for San Francisco. .Are the public aware of the following facts, viz. .-—That 115 passengers have paid into the hands of Mr. Woolley nearly £1,400, to procure which the majority of them had to part with their effects at an enormous sacrifice, besides being left totally destitute ? We are led to believe, were it in our power (which it is not) to raise a sufficient sum to defrayminor expenses connected with the fittings, &c, of the veisel, and extra stores for the voyage, in lieu of those consumed during our detention in this harbour, our hopes might be realised. It is mainly owing to the directors of the Bank of Auckland that we are in our present position. Mr. Woolley distinctly states that, if the cheque marked by the manager had been paid, we should long ere this be on our way to our destination. We leave our deplorable case in your handt, and to the sympathy of the public to aid us out of our present dilemma ; and cannot conclude without offering our sincere thanks to the Emigration Officer, Captain Williams, for the attention and trouble he has taken in our behalf.— Yours, &c, William Samuels, A. R. Walker, William Brown, John O'Donoghue, John White, George Barrington, Robert Shiels. George fliscock, John Daly, Patrick Kennedy, John Aikin, John JRorke, John Fprtfr, William Filmer, James Mcßrine, George Tbrimble, Patrick White, George Dawson, Michael O'Donoghue, John Eige, George Stevens, James Donovan, Thomaa Williams, Thomas Grant. ™ -, , ' For the passengers pet .' Flying Cloud. Brig 'Flying Cloud,' April 19,' 1567. 4 ," [The pase.of thes,e .poor people is a very hard one. In any port in the United' Kingdom, the United ' State j, or Yicfaria, such an outrageous fraud upon

passengers by a swt-goin? ship would not be tolerated. We do not blame Mr. Woolley. No one blames him morally ; but legally he is responsible for the pa* sengers' money. We do not happen to know th« law but we apprehend, were the cause tried, that the passengers have a first claim upon the vessel and th« estates of tha several parties to this transaction. If it is not so, it ought to be. Should the principals in this emigration swindle succeed in their operation, there is an end at once to protection to travellers by sea-going vessels in New Zealand. We can hardly imagine that this is the case, Ab for the Bank of Auckland, we hardly think the pasiengers have been correctly informed. It is not likely the bank directors would forego their legal rights, much lesi assume a heavy loss to benefit, not the pasiengers, but those who received their money, as it turns ou^ on a contract they could not carry out.— JE». D.S.CJ