DOUGLAS MAWSON WRECK

Evening Star, Issue 18852, 29 January 1925, Page 11

DOUGLAS MAWSON WRECK

FATE OF THE WHITE WOMEN. “A RIDICULOUS STORY.” COLOMBO, January' 11. Mr A. .1, Sironach, formerly a surveyor in Ceylon, who is bound for England, staled" in an interview: “Since leaving Brisbane it has come to my knowledge flint- tlio first- expedition sent out- by the (,’ommouwealth Government to ascertain the fate of the crew of the Douglas Ala-w----son did get info eonuminication. through intermediaries with the tribe, of cannibals with whom the two while women are. It gleaned (In- information that- thowomen were .still alive, and bad been married to the chiefs. “The head of the tribe refused to negotiate for their release, and was prepared to resist- any attempt- at- rescue. The Government. was adv’scrl of this at- the tune by rable. from Unhid, hut- the news was snppre-sed, and ihc matter was allowed to droii owing to lho large expense that would have been involved.’’ Mr Sironnch said he felt- strongly the matter should he taken up. He thought(hat-, when the fnun was known in Australia, there would he an outburst of public, feeding. |''The shny is ridiculous on the face of it,” said the Commonwealth Minister for Home and Territories. Mr G. F. Pearce, when (he cablegram was brought under his notice in Melbourne, ‘'l most emphatically deny tli.it. the Commonwealth .Government- was ever informed that communication with tin- women lia-d been established,” he said. “It is an out rage on public intelligence to snggegst that the Government would suppress information of this nature. The whole story is preposterous."J