DUTCH EVACUEES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26077, 14 February 1946, Page 6

DUTCH EVACUEES

ARRIVAL IN DOMINION TALES OF ILL-TREATMENT (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Feb. 13. With 426 Dutch evacuees from' the Netherlands East Indies, the hospital ship Tasman arrived at Auckland from Batavia, via Brisbane, this afternoon. All will disembark in the morning for registration at “ Oranje,” the Netherlands East Indies Welfare Organisation transit centre at Remuera. but only 146 evacuees, 7 nurses and 1 doctor will remain in Auckland, the remainder leaving when the ship sails on Saturday for Wellington, Lyttelton and Sydney. At Wellington 169 and 8 . medical personnel will disembark. and the rest are destined for Christchurch. In her white paint, and with the usual Red Cross markings, the Tasman appeared little different from the days before the war, when, as a Dutch South Pacific Line passenger vessel, she was on the run from New Zealand through the East Indies and Singapore to Saigon. Her master, Captain William Eleveld, was in command of the ship before the war, and said he had been able to inform his passengers of the good things they could expect in New Zealand. He has held command of the ship throughout the war, first as a troooship which took part in the first landings at New Guinea, and later as a hospital ship. Travelling with Captain Eleveld are his wife and two sons, William, aged 16, and John, aged 13, who werq separated and interned at Bandoeng by the Japanese. They had some months in hospital before travelling, all suffering from malnutrition, and Mrs Eleveld being particularly ill. An unusual touch of domesticity in the captain’s cabin was a sewing machine. William and John had the unenviable task of digging a grave for one of their companions who was shot by irresponsible Indonesian snipers when he wandered from the camp some time after the Japanese surrender. Trials of Evacuees Captain Eleveld expressed his personal opinion that the Indonesian leaders were simply collaborators of the Japanese. In his opinion the wrong policy was being followed. A strong hand should be used. The Indonesians respected being treated strongly but fairly. All the evacuees were taken on at Batavia, most of them being from camps there and at Bandoeng, said the captain. They were a pitiable sight when the ship left Batavia on January 26, but soon recuperated. Many came aboard with nothing more than the clothes they stood in, and those usually consisted of. dirty, worn shorts, slacks, shirts and blouses. The best of food and medical attention was given them during the voyage. At Brisbane 150 disembarked and clothes were bought for the remainder. A Red Cross team of 14 nurses and a doctor joined the ship at Brisbane. The Tasman was held up in Sydney for five months at the end of last year by the actions of Australian Communists, said the captain. All of his Indonesian crew left the ship, some apologising for their actions, which, they said, were forced on them. The lascar crew engaged was so intimidated that none would sail, four of them being kidnapped. He managed to sign on 20 “ good ” Australians in his crew, and obtained some Chinese at Batavia. . Eight large wards accommodated the evacuees on the ship, which was well equipped with regrigerators, cooking and washing appliances, air conditioning, a fine operating theatre and Xray examination room. Ward commanders were appointed from among the evacuees, and three doctors held sick parades daily. Fresh fruit formed a large proportion of the menu. Prominent Men Aboard An eminent Surabaya gynaecologist. Dr de Geuse, who had been interned in one of the most notorious Japanese camps at Bakanbaroe, in Sumatra, was senior doctor on the ship. He said the food in the Japanese internment camps was bad. All had to do heavy work on the railways, and out of 1500, ever 400 died of starvation and dysentery, 80 per cent, suffered from malaria, and there was no quinine or other medicine. With other medical officers, he had to treat men out-of-doors, and also had to perform his share of heavy work. There were innumerable beating. Captain Eleveld said that Dr de Geuse had performed a gargantuan task at the camp. Few of the evacuees'showed signs of the hardships they had endured, so excellent had been the food and treatment they had received on the ship. All spoke anxiously of the thousands of other Dutch who were still starving and in danger from the terrorist elements of the Indonesian National movement. Many of them had not been sent to camp until late in the war, when they were interned by the Japanese. A teacher of English and history at Bandoefng, Mr S. Barug, said they were fed on tapioca porridge which used to be pig fodder. , When the meat ration was reduced to almost nothing they caught mice and lizards to eat. When they complained, what might be termed “ good ” Japanese came with dog for the sick people to eat. If the war had lasted three months longer none of them would have survived. Crowded Conditions Dr Leopold Kirschner and his wife, who visited New Zealand in 1937, were among the evacuees. Dr Kirschner was head of the bacteriological department at the Pasteur Institute at Bandoeng. They said they were separated by the Japanese, but for one year and a-half were allowed to live in houses. Later they were sent to a coolies’ gaol at Batavia. In the houses many were crowded into small rooms, Beds consisted of wooden planks 22 inches wide. If anyone turned over, they all had to. The hospitals were overcrowded, gnd for breakfast they were given starch. Whenever they shifted camps the evacuees had to carry heavy luggage over long distances. The children seemed to have the greatest recuperative powers, _ and eagerly ran about the ship looking at the new land which will be their home for about Jour months. Some of these children were born in internment camps, the youngest being a boy aged three years, the son of Dr and Mrs J A Busk There was no official welcome, but Mr H. F. van Eck, Vice-consul for the Netherlands at Auckland, said that a reception would be held in the morning on the wharf before they went to “ Oranje ” for lunch, and would be attended by representatives of the Auckland Harbour Board, the Mayor (Mr J. A. C. Allum), a Government representative, and Mr van Holst Pellekaan, Australasian representative of the Welfare Organisation.