THE HARPER INCIDENT.

Evening Star, Issue 12067, 12 December 1903, Page 5

THE HARPER INCIDENT.

In our issue of yesterday we mentioned, in connection with the above, that Mr T. A. Grady (the travelling traffic manager for the Oceanic Steamship Company) had arranged to see Mr Harper yesterday, with, the view of eliciting the entire facts in connection with his complaint as to his treatment by the Oceanic Company. A ' Star' reporter called upon Mr Grady last night, and learned from him • that Mr Bridgman (of Messrs Neill and Co., the local agents for the company), Mt SprouL • (passenger agent for the company at Auckland), and himself had met Mr Harper, and had gleaned from him al} tliat he had to say on the matter. Mr Grady remarked that, while there were always two sides to every question, it would appear from what he had been able to gather that milder methods might have been adopted at Honolulu to ensure Mr Harper continuing his compulsory journey back to New Zealand. The whole ground covered by Mr Harper's complaint would be thoroughly investigated by his company, and' if it were found that any of their officers had made matters more uncomfortable than was absolutely demanded by the terms of Jiis deportation, the Oceanic Company would see the* matter put straight in double quick time. Mr Grady further stated that as the Consul-General for the United States in this colony had already officially taken up the matter of Mr Harper's deportation' he was diffident about making any statements beyond those appearing in Thursday's ' Star,* and would merely repeat that the raw in question was originally meant to apply to the importation of Asiatic labor into the United States, and would doubtless, very quickly be amended in order to meet such special cases as that of Mr Harper. He pointed out that many useful revisions of laws were eventually brought about by ihe fact of one person's inconvenience, and Mr Harper's experience might prove in the long run a blessing in disguise. The particular restriction was one, added Mr Grady, that had seldom been applied before in the case of a Britisher, and was not likely to apply again, except when the interested party made a point of directing application by his own indiscretion. Finally, he stated that he was convinced that the proper officials of his company were never fully cognisant of the merits of Mr Harper's case, as it titis more than possible that m a huge concern. as< the Oceanic Steamship Company was in San Francisco, that the real heads had nev-r been made aware of the complications of the case, and he wa3 inclined to draw this inference from some of the statements which, had fallen from Mr Harper during the interview.