N.Z. HAVEN FOR DUTCH EVACUEES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21946, 14 February 1946, Page 6

N .Z. HAVEN FOR DUTCH EVACUEES

TASMAN ARRIVES CHEERFUL PEOPLE RAPID RECOVERIES HARSH JAP. TREATMENT (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Feb. 14. Willi 426 Dutch evacuees i'roin the Netherlands East Indies. (lie hospital ship Tasman arrived at Auckland from Batavia via Brisbane yesterday afternoon. All disembarked this morninp for registration at “Oranjc,” the Netherlands East Indies welfare organisation transit centre at Remuera, but only 146 evacuees, seven nurses and one doctor, will remain in Auckland. The remainder are leaving when the ship sails on Saturday for Wellington, Lyttelton and Sydney. At Wellington. 16!) refugees and eight medical personnel will disembark and the rest are destined for Christchurch.

In her white paint and with the usual Red Cross markings, the Tasman appeared little different from the days before the war when, as a Dutch South Pacific Line passenger vessel, she was on the run from New Zealand through the East Indies and Singapore to Saigon. Old Captain Still in Command Her master, Captain William Eleveld, was in command of the ship before the war, and said he had been nble to inform his passengers of the good things they could expect in New Zealand. He has held command of the ship throughout the war, first as a troopship, which took part in the first landings at New Guinea, and later as a hospital shin. Travelling with Captain Eleveld are his wife and two sons—William, aged 16, and John, aged 13, who were separated and interned at Bandoeng by the Japanese. They had some months in hospital before travelling. All are suffering from malnutrition, Mrs. Eleveld being particularly ill.

An unusual touch of domesticity in the captain’s cabin was a sewing machine. William and John had the unenviable task of digging the grave for one of their companions who was shot by irresponsible Indonesian snipers when he wandered from the camp some time after the Japanese surrender. Contain Eleveld expressed his personal opinion that the Indonesian leaders were simply collaborateurs of the Japanese. In his opinion, a wrong policy was being followed. A strong hand should be used. The Indonesians respected being treated strongly but fairly. Taken On At Batavia All the evacuees were taken on at Batavia, most of them being from camps there and at Bandoeng, said the captain. They were a pitiable sight when the ship left Batavia on January 26. but soon recuperated. Many came aboard with nothing more than the clothes they stood in, and those usually consisted of dirty worn shorts, slacks, shirts and blouses. The best of food and medical attention was given them during the voyage. At Brisbane 150 disembarked and clothes were bought for the remainder. A Red Cross team of 14 nurses and a doctor joined the ship at Brisbane.

The Tasman was held up in Sydney for five months at the end of last year by the actions of Australian Communists, said the captain. All his Indonesian crew left the ship, some apologising for theii actions which, they said were forced an them. The Lascar crew engaged was so Intimidated that none would sail, four of them being kidnapped. He managed to sign on 20 •‘good” Australians in his crew and obtained some Chinese at Batavia. Eight large wards accommodated the evacuees of the ship, which was well equipped with refrigerators, cooking and washing appliances, air conditioning, a fine operating theatre, and an X-ray examination room. Ward commanders were appointed from among the evacuees, and three doctors held sick parades daily. Fresh fruit formed a large proportion of the menu. Heavy Work on Railways

An eminent Sourabaya gynaecologist, Dr. de Geuse, who had been interned in one of the most notorious Japanese camps at Bakanbaroe, in Sumatra, is the senior doctor on the ship. He said the food was bad in camp. All had to do heavy work on the railways, and out of 1500 over 400 died of starvation and dysentery. Eighty per cent suffered from malaria, and there was no quinine or other medicine. With other medical officers lie had had to treat men out of doors and also had to perform his share of tlie heavy work. There were innumerable beatings.

Captain Eleveld said that Dr. de Geuse had performed a gargantuan task at the camp. Few of Ihe evacuees showed signs of the hardships they had endured—so excellent had been the food and the treatment they had received on the ship. All spoke anxiously of thousands of other Dutch who were still starving and in danger from the terrorist elements of the Indonesian national movement. Many of them had not been sent to camp until late in the war. when they were interned by the Japanese. A teacher of English and history at Bandoeng, M. S. Barug, said they were fed on tapioca and porridge which used to be pig fodder. When the meat ration was reduced to almost nothing they caught mice and lizards to eat. When they complained what might be termed “good” Japanese came with a dog for the sick people to eat. If the war had lasted three months longer none of them would have survived. Starch For Breakfast

Dr. Leopold Kirschner and his wife, who visited New Zealand in 1937, were among the evacuees. Dr. Kirschner was head of the bacteriological department at the Pasteur Institute at Bandoeng. They said they were separated by the Japanese, but for 1$ years were allowed to live -in houses. Later they were sent to a coolies’ gaol at Batavia. In the houses many were crowded into small rooms. The beds consisted of wooden planks 22in. wide. If anyone turned over, they all had to. The hospitals were overcrowded and for breakfast they were given starch. Whenever they shifted their camps the evacuees had to carry heavy luggage over long distances. The children seemed to have the greatest recuperative powers, and eagerly ran about the ship looking at the new land which will be their home for about four months. Some of these children were born in the internment camps, the youngest being a boy aged three years, the son of Dr. and Mrs. J, A, Baak.

There was no official welcome, but M. H. F. van Eck, vice-consul for the Netherlands at Auckland, said that a reception would be held in the morning on the wharf before they went to “Oranje” for lunch and would be attended by representatives of the Auckland Harbour Board, the Mayor, Mr, J. A. C. Allum, a Government representative, and M. van Holst Pellekaan, Australasian representative of the welfare organisation.