DUTCH SHIP SEARCHED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19831, 29 December 1927, Page 10

DUTCH SHIP SEARCHED.

FOUR HOURS' HARD WORK. CUSTOMS OFFICIALS' TASK. Perspiring and smeared with paint and grease, customs searchers searched the Dutch vessel Samarinda at Fremantle recently for prohibited immigrants. The Samarinda is the second Dutch boat, to arrive at Fremantle after the Almkerk, in whose tanks 50 Chinese stowaways were discovered by searchers in October. All likely places of concealment were searched systematically for four hours, while members of the crew, with the exception of the captain and officers and one or two others, were ordered to remam on deck under sur-'eillance. .Special attention was given to the vessel's water ballast tanks. Taking it, in turns the searchers squeezed through the opening to the tanks and explored all compartments with the aid of electric torches. Nothing to arouse the suspicions of officials was discovered. Contrary to the anticipation of the Customs Department, the majority of the crow carried by the Samarinda, not counting officers, were Chinese. Cablegrams sent from Europe shortly after the Almkerk's stowaways were found stated 1 but the shipping line concerned had decided to man the vessels in the' Australian trade with Europeans. Appar- . «intly. the Samarinda left Europe too soon after the decision had been reached Jor the alteration to be mado.