ADVENTURES ABROAD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 23 November 1938, Page 3

ADVENTURES ABROAD

i NEW ZEALAND YOUTHS ! t deserted from gisrman ship 1 MPRISONED IN DUKHAN f United Press Associat ion 1 AUCKLAND, 22nd November. ! Iho New Zealand brothers who signed ! articles on a Uennun tramp steamer in ! Wellington last April to enable them to 1 see the world and lead a life of adventure have had their ambitions realised. ! They circumnavigated the globe, were | i sentenced to 14 days’ imprisonment in Durban for illegally entering South Af- i rica (they deserted thei,* ship there) and I b> days before their trial; and, after: serving their sentence awaiting the arrival of a German ship to take them out ! of the country, they finally reached Hamburg only to be ‘ returned” to New Zea- : land bv the German Government. Thoroughly disillusioned, they arrived ’ by the Awatea on Monday from Sydney penniless and with only one thought—to settle down to work again in the DominDuring their short career of adventure, these boys served in three German ships. They knew a New Zealand lad who had sailed in the German tramp Naumburg and, against his advice, they joined that l ship in Wellington last April as trimmers. i They signed on for the trip to South Africa, the United States, South America, I ami back to New Zealand at £9 15s a I mo'itD. They disliked the conditions and could get no advance against their wages in Australia, but, on reaching South Africa they were each paid £1 ss. On the eve of the vessel sailing for the next port the boys “bolted” and “hitch-hiked” to Jo liannesburg, taking three days on the 1 journey or more than 500 miles. NO WORK IN JOHANNESBURG , “We did not have a chance of getting , work in Johannesburg,” said the elder brother, Leslie Crawford, this morning. We bad an idea that we would be able to get employment in mines. In the first ’ place, we bad to undergo a medical * examination in order to have issued to us ” a ‘red ticket’ or pass to say wo were inedi- ’• rally (it. We MX, it discovered that a Bri- ’• ton was not wanted. h “As we could not compete and were ■ without money by now. we went to the police station and gave ourselves up,” ): said Louis Crawford. 1; “The first German ship to reach Durl, ban after we had served our term was tin* Hanau.” said Leslie Crawford, taking ,f up the story again. “This time we did ); not have to work. We were passengers f. quartered with the crew. We did not like ; the food and were longing to get back to q New Zealand. On 27th August, we reached Hamburg, and were immediately tak- , en ashore and placed in a police lock-up. * After six hours we were escorted to the ■*’ wharf again and transferred to the BitJ" terfeld, bound for Australia.”