CHAMPAGNE CARGO

Evening Star, Issue 18503, 10 December 1923, Page 5

CHAMPAGNE CARGO

DUTCH SCHOONER SEIZED

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright

NEW YORK, December 8.

Further international complications aro expected as a result of the seizure of the Dutch 105-ton schooner Zeehond by revenue cutters outside the three-mile limit. Tho vessel was carrying k cargo of choicest champagne liquors, valued at 300,000 dollars. The Zeehond now lies alongside the Tamoka, while Captain H. Kraus and his crew of nine, after being heard, wore paroled in the Dutch Consul’s custody for further examination. Captain Krans insists vehemently that the vessel belongs to an Amsterdam syndicate, and t'mf.sbo was bound from Antwerp to Halifax. She was becalmed and tides boro her shoreward. The revenue agents declare that the schooner's log shows that she was hovering off shore for over a week; that she was a regular participant in the, rom-rtmning industry, and that her champagne cargo was intended for special holiday trade. Captain Krans insists that In’s Government will protect him. This is the first seizure of a Dutch ship carrying liquor. Intimations from Washington state that the United States probably seized tho Zeohond in accordance with an understanding with tho Dutch Government, with which she was negotiating a ship-scizuro treaty similar to the British. A Washington correspondent indicates that tho Bri-tish-American treaty can ho taken for granted as virtually complete, or tho United States would not have started negotiations with Holland. It is understood that the British treaty will ha a standard for similar treaties with oilier Powers.—A. and N.Z. Cable.