NOT IN AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14824, 30 October 1911, Page 5

NOT IN AUSTRALIA.

THE ESCAPE OF POWELKA.

RISK 01 SHIPMASTERS.

[from our own correspondent.]

Sydney, October 25. Ihe story published in some New Zealand papers recently that Powelka is in Australia is altogether discredited by the police here. ■

Several shipmasters spoken to declare that the risk of any captain harbouring Powelka would be too great to be undertaken. There' is a fine of £100 under the Customs regulations for introducing an undesirable into the Commonwealth, quite beside other penalties which might be incurred for aiding an escaped criminal. There would be little or no chance of anyone stowing away on the small vessels engaged in the timber trade, and as for any captain assisting Powelka to escape for a consideration, it is regarded as being very improbable.

There was one shipmaster, though, who is not now engaged in the New Zealand trade, who remarked — " The captains are so poorly paid in the trade nowadays that I would not be surprised at some of them taking on anything. They get about £14 pep month, and you might find one here and there willing to take on such a job for a decent figure. But Powelka! That would be a risk."

The agents for the various timber vessels trading between New Zealand and Sydney will not listen to the story. Any master assisting Powelka, they say, would have to take practically the whole crew into his confidence, especially if the criminal landed on the coast, and that would be too big a risk.