FROM DANUBIAN COUNTRIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 9 January 1940, Page 5

FROM DANUBIAN COUNTRIES

EMIGRANTS TO PALESTINE SHIPPING AGENCIES ORGANISING TRANSPORT PASSENGERS LIABLE TO PENALTY [British Official Wireless] (Received 9th January. 10.0 a.m.) RUGBY. Blh January. Reports have reached London that certain shipping agencies are engaged in organising the transport of emigrants from Danubian countries to Palestine. There is reason to believe that intending emigrants are unaware that they will not be admitted into Palestine unless possessing immigration certificates issued by the Palestine Department of Migration, and that if they arrive in Palestine without these certificates they are liable to serious penalties and deportation under Palestine law. The ships on which emigrants travel at great expense to themselves are, it is alleged, small, insanitary ancj unseaworthy. The captains and crews are also apparently unaware that by carrying passengers that are not legally entitled to land in Palestine they themselves are liable to arrest and heavy fines. There is a report that the second officer of the Turkish steamer Sakarya now at Sulina resigned his post because he learned that his ship was engaged in this traffic and he feared the penalties to v/hich he would be liable. It is also reported that conditions on the Sakarya are very bad. There is no heating and there have been several dozen cases of pneumonia amongst the passengers.