WILHELM'S POSSIBLE DESTINATION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14041, 26 April 1920, Page 2

WILHELM'S POSSIBLE DESTINATION.

(By T. R. Ybarra.)

There must have been a- good deal of excitement of late in the little island of Curacoai, in the Dutch West Indies. Excitement isn't a specialty of Curacoa. life, which, is quiet arid sun-baked and humdrum; therefore, all the more violent must have been the shock to this strange little community when it woke up recently to the realisation that it ' might be chosen ;us the future residence of one William Hohenzollern, of Ameroiigeri, Holland, formerly of Berlin, Germany. - When Holland answered the Allies note asking that William be given up to them and" the Dutch Government demurred, the report arose that the next demand from the Allies would bo, that the ex-Kaiser in view of the danger-en-tailed by his continued presence m Holland so close to the German frontier and the monarchists of liis former realm, should be interned iii some one of Holland's island possessions scattered over the globe. The great island of Java was mentioned, along with other big Dutch possessions ; and, in the list little Curacoa found a place. If the ex-Kaiser is really toe be disposed of in this way it must be said that worse solutions of his problem might be found than an enforced residence in Curacoa. Whereas Java, Sumatra, arid other islands ruled over by Holland are vast in extent and thickly peopled, presenting possibilities of escape and even revolt, Curacoa is far more like- St. Helena to which NapoleoiS was relegated after Waterloo l . It is a mere speck in the Caribbean Sea, a few miles off the coast of Venezuela, so barren that scarcely anything can be raised on it and peopled by a few thousand inhabitants, mostly blacks, the majority of whom are huddled in the one town of the island, Wilemstad, just as the bulk of. St. Helena's population is centred at Jamestown, the island's capital. Curacoa is scarcely known to any except those who travel, to Venezuelan ports, for it has been for many years a regular stopping place of the _,Amo 'ricau line of steamers connecting .New York with La Guavra, the seaport of Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. From Curacoa this line also maintains abranch service to Maracaibo, an important Venezuelan coffee port. Curacoa is delightfully picturesque. The town of Willemstad reminds the visitor of "Spotless Town" advertisements. It is gabled, of course —did not the Dutch build it? —and nestles on the arid edge of the blue Carribbean in a quaint conglomeration of ga'ilycolored buildings. Steamships enter its harbor between two' tiny, forts, more like tots than actual fortifications. Beyond there, on both sides- of a narraw neck of deep water, the town of Willemstad is clustered, connected by a bridge of boats which obligingly swings aside to per"init the steamer tp pass. . Boats manned by stalwart negroes swarm around; the steamer, black boys swim to its sides and dive with fish-like skill for pennies, and solemn Dutch customs and police officials with cocked hats and short sabres come aboard. If the ex-Kaiser is lodged in Willemstad itself, he may be quartered in one of the old forts guarding the harbor entrance or in another old fort perched on a hill a bit inland and commanding the town and its approaches. Then, again, he may have allotted to -him'one of the bie, gaily-colored villas in aristocratic section of Scharlo, where the rich merchants of Willemstad' live. * . « That will be different enough from life in his palace at Potsdam, but not so much as his life will lie if the Dutch authorities decide to give him a Curacoa country residence. The "country" on the island is a few square miles of stubble-covered ground, parched by the sun, showing ever a- watercourse, dotted with villas whose owners seek to imitate the comfortable rural conditions of Holland by placarding them witli high-sounding Dutch names, and tumble-down hovels of ..the rural negroes.

So dry is Curacoa that the problem of drinking water .sometimes .becomes quite serious. On 'every hbuseis a cistern to catch raiii water; which, after

a Jong ai-y spell, tastes exceedingly brackish and unpalatable. _____ The ex-rulor of 'Germany will have a .hard time finding diversion for _ himself in Curacoa. He may drive or ride over to an ostrich farm a few miles outside of Willemstad and gaze at the ungainly birds quartered there; or he may play tennis on courts laid out be- . hind one of the little fofte guarding the harbor; or hei may take sea baths close by (and get well pounded by a splendid surf); or participate in the favorite diversion of 'watching the steamers pick their way between the little forts'to the various anchorages in the harbor. Not • very exciting after having strutted for a quarter of a century as the war lord of 'Germany ! And, of course, he may drink the Curacoa liquor wh'ieh derives' its name from the island, though much of it is now, made in Europe* from peel grown, else-* where in the West - Indies, '/There" would'' Be' possibility. for,

Dutch exercised close sifrveillance over i him. He might try to bnbathe bkip. ,| per or some Venezuelan schooner to ; < land him in Venezuela— the'..coast of ,;> which may bo seen from the-.island on $ a clear day—but what could lie do wh<*ft -.; ho got to that turbulent land? \\_\u, would be it difficult matter' -for him of %• the upturned moustachios and-ilashin' g <, eye 10 disguise himself sufficiently to Bo f: taken back to Europe. .'; Anyhow, whether William ever goes "., to Curacoa or" not, that tiny Dutch 's island, slumbering beneath- the CariV * bean sun, has had its minute in tho <■■ limelight. There must have been (l uito • a. buzz and hum there for a while bofore its people settled down again to ■• watch the steamers come in and wort, der whether the water supply; would dry ■ '• up and figure on how much profit they ' could mako from smuggling goods into Venezuela. .'