POACHERS CAUGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20646, 19 August 1930, Page 14

POACHERS CAUGHT.

IRISH CAPTAIN'S RUSE. STORY OF PEARLING FIELDS. [FROM our. OWN" CORRESPONDENT.] SYDNEY, July 7. According (o a message from Darwin reports linve been current there that Malay pearlers from Timor and other islands to the north of Austria have again been poaching on the pearling grounds to the east and west of Darwin. The local pearlers and trepang fishers naturally resent the annual visits of the poachers, who, however, are able to carry on in safety since there is not a single police patrol boat on the whole of the coast. The poachers fill up with valuable shell and trepang, pay no taxes or licence fees, and their crews receive only " coolie - ' wages, and are fed on a very low scale compared with the local men. Some time ago one of the pearlers—a well-known character in the North, found a new field, a rich patch of shell along the coast, and he made elaborate preparations to work it. His lugger was fitted with engines, the divers were fitted with air compressors, and a rich return was expected when the little flotilla set sail. But. the poachers from the North had already discovered the patch. By communicating with the blacks on shore the, irate pearling skipper, who was an Irishman with a good war record, learned that the poachers had worked out his patch with a fleet of five luggers, had cleaned up the job " before tho last moon," and had sailed away again to the North.

Tin's was too much for the Irishman, and lie decided to mako sail in search of the poachers. After about four hours the look-out man reported them to bo ahead, under crowded sail, headed duo north. Thcso Malay craft are built for speed, but the Irishman with his screw propellt-i", soon overhauled them. Shortly before coming up with the Malays ho went below and presently reappeared clad in his uniform, with his medals showing on his breast. Another white member of his crow donned a faded khaki uniform, and each carried a heavy automniic. As tho pursuers overhauled the Malays a boat, was lowered, and with a military bearing the Irishman proceeded to " arrest " the master of the poachers in proper form. The craft was first searched for firearms, which were thrown overboard, and then the Malays were compelled to empty the whole of their shell into the Irishman's lugger. And that is how the Northern seaboard is administered.