GERMANS REPATRIATED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17337, 8 December 1919, Page 8

GERMANS REPATRIATED.

VON LUCKNER GOES "■ HOME." ] LANDING AT ROTTERDAM, ] i CONTRAST IN DEMEANOUR. Details of the final stages of the repatriation, of the German and Austrian prisoners of war who were interned for : many months on Motuihi Island, and who sailed from Wellington under guard on the Willochra late last May, have been recounted by a member of the guard who has just returned from abroad. The most prominent members of the party were, of course, Count Felix von Luckner, ex-commander of the raider Seeadler, Lieu - tenant Kifcheiss, of the same vessel, and Dr. Schultz, ex-Governor of Samoa. The party, which consisted of some 150 interned aliens when it left Auckland, was joined by other internees at Sydney, bringing the total number of passengers aboard the Willochra to about 900. The monotony of the long voyage " home " was broken principally by very frequent concerts by the members of the string band, well known in Auckland street® in pre-war days. . The greater portion of the music at these concerts was composed by the conductor himself, a German named Mersy. Of the other items it is interesting to note that they were not all taken from operas composed in the "Fatherland." On July 18 the Willochra drew up off Dover, and after having taken aboard a representative of the navy, ran straight across to Rotterdam. Before sunrise the following day the vessel steamed alongside the quiet quay. Tho spot on which the prisoners were to laind had been fenced off, and a few military officials only werfe to be seen. Aboard the ship a general spirit of excitement and bustle prevailed, and it was noticeable that the Germans, with their accustomed eye to things material, literally " bought out" the ship's canteen of all, its foodstuffs. The relations between the first-class | passengers and the ship's officers were not at ail strained, arid von Ltickner was often heard to remark, " You have not ' won the war; it was a draw." Among the second-class passengers, however, the i feeling was not so kindly. This was exemplified in the manner in which they ! rushed the gangway as soon as _it was lowered, and accompanied their first moments of " freedom" with and angry cries, directed at the ship's officers ' and guard. L Count von Luckner remained courteous to the end. He was the last to leave the ship. That morning he had discarded his naval uniform and donned a new grey tweed suit. At the foot of the gangway 1 he stopped, took his leave ,of the officers, shaking hands with Major Blackett, ' officer commanding ship, and then passed down to the end of the quay. A few hours later the Willochra swung ' clear from her anchorage, and almost 1 simultaneously a troop train steamed out towards the west, to the accompaniment 1 of gutteral hoots and cries fr6m a few '' men returning to the inglorious rule of ' their beaten country. Even at that 1 moment thousands of allied troops were 1 threading the streets of London in the ; triumphal victory march of July 19.