CLOSED DOWN

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 36, 11 August 1914, Page 6

CLOSED DOWN

GERMAN CONSULATES 1 POWERS WITHDRAWN. GOVERNMENT TAKE CHARGE OF DOCUMENTS. At pj«c«rent Germany has no official representatives in New Zealand,' the German Consulates throughout the Dominion being closed by instructions from the British Government. Yesterday afternoon, local police officers visited the premises of Mr. E. Focke, the German Consul in Wellington, with the request that all Consular papers should bo handed over. Letter books and other documents were taken possession of, and, after being eealed, were removed to the Police Btation. The Consular sign on the door has also been removed. The North German Lloyd Shipping Agency, of which Mr. Focke is manager and which is in the same building, still remains open. Thf- powers of the Consulate will not be handed over to the representative of a. third Power, as is sometimes done on the outbreak of hostilities. Mr. Fo^kc's status as a private citizen still remains tho > same, as he became a naturalised British subject twenty-five tears ago. He has resided in Wellington for thirty-five yeais, and prior to that was five years a resident of London/ so that altogether he has lived for forty years under British rule.