THREE ESCAPE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24134, 28 November 1941, Page 6

THREE ESCAPE

INTERNED GERMANS USE OF A BOAT ' SOMES ISLAND INMATES MAN-HUNT IN PUOGRESS [BY TELEGRAPH —IMtESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON, Thursday Three Germans have escaped from the Somes Island internment station. A widespread man-hunt is now in progress to recapture them. They got away in a dinghy belonging to the Agriculture Department, which retains a caretaker on the island, and used improvised oars, which had apparently been prepared and secreted beforehand in preparation for the escape. The oars belonging to the dinghy were still safely under lock and key when the escape was discovered. The missing men are:- —Hans Finke, journalist, born about 1911, sft. 7in., dark complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, , thick lips, pointed chin; Carl Oscar Sehrooder, seaman, born about 1918, 6ft. lin., fresh face, fair to reddish complexion, fair hair, blue eyes; Frederick Georg Theodor Strewe, cheesemaker, aged 30, 6ft. lin., fair complexion, fair hair, blue eyes. Two Formerly in Auckland Finke has a scar on his right forearm and may be wearing grey or blue clothes. Sehrooder is understood to be tattooed on botli arms. Sehrooder and Strewe lived in Auckland before they were interned and Strevve's wife is living there. Finke is known all over New Zealand. He is a single man and has moved about a good deal. The other men were locked in their compounds as usual at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. When the roll was called at 10 p.m. the names of the men now at large were answered. The compounds of all sections of the aliens on the island are surrounded by barbed wire fences Bft. high, the only unwired sections being high locked and barred gates. Evidence ol Planning The night was particularly dark and would have assisted their escape. There is evidence of most careful planning. The island is under constant patrol and lookout, and doubtless by some means or other the movements of the guards must have been closely studied. All three men have been on the island several months. They speak English well and are dressed in ordinary clothes. It is probable that they have money. It is thought they may try to pass themselves off as Scandinavians. The fact of a seaman being included in the party would indicate that nothing was being left to chance in the journey across the harbour. Dinghy Found on Beach The dinghy in which they escaped was found on a beach near the Petone woollen mills to-dav and the improvised oars a short distance away. One of the men is a German Jew. The compounds are under constant guard and the possibility cannot be overlooked that the men were actually at liberty somewhere on the island before the compounds were locked and that their names were answered at roll call by others. During the afternoons those interned are allowed a good deal of liberty and there would be ample opportunity for the men to plan their escape. Guards move round the island throughout the night. Their duty posts are connected with one another and the commandant's quarters by telephone. Missed at Reveille The men were first missed at reveille to-day, about 6 a.m. With improvised oars the trip from the island to where the dinghy was found would have taken an hour to an hour and a-lialf. If the men made the shore at Petone about midnight last night there would have been ample time for them to communicate with friends, if they had any, and be assisted on their way out of Wellington. Specially selected police officers, including those with knowledge of aliens, are engaged in an extensive search in the Wellington district. Police officers elsewhere, in possession of full descriptions of the men, are also on the lookout. No small craft are missing from Wellington harbour and the possibility of the men having put out to sea in a stolen craft has been disposed of. CAMP CONDITIONS RECREATION AND VISITORS An internment camp in this and the last war and a little-used quarantine station in peacetime, Somes Island, in Wellington harbour, is a pleasant place where aliens are well treated. The aliens are in three groups—Germans, Italians and other nationals. Work is voluntary and they are on duty for four hours each morning doing general fatigues if they wish. Free to engage in hobbies, recreation and co-operative activity, many of the men find plenty to occupy their time. Supervision is not carried to the point of being irksome. Everybody on the island, including the commandant and the staff, gets the same food, which is good and cooked by three army cooks assisted by aliens. Italians, at their own request, draw their rations and cook for themselves. Two pairs of boots, two sets of underclothing, and denims for working, arc issued to the men, who may wear their own clothes if they wish. Special attention has been paid to the supply of warm clothing to men from Samoa. Each section has its elected foreman to place requests or complaints before the commandant. Their interests are also watched by the Swiss Consul for the Germans and the Japanese Consul for the Italians. A number of visitors are allowed weekly, and the men are allowed to send 10 letters and four packets each month free of postage. 'l'llere is a canteen, run on military lines, where one bottle of ale may he bought each day. The aliens have completed a bowling green and are building a tennis court. During the last war Germans built a road nay on the island. Two vegetable gardens are kept by Germans and Italians. The Italians are allowed to fish off the island under supervision. The men are also allowed to swim.