PROBLEM FOR POLICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26113, 28 March 1946, Page 6

PROBLEM FOR POLICE

POLISH REFUGEE GIRL STRANGE DIALECT SPOKEN (Special) CHRISTCHURCH, Mar. 27. An attractive young girl, who claims to be a Polish refugee, and apparently arrived in Christchurch 13 days ago, is causing police headquarters in the city some concern. The girl’s name is Thoe Schoskisge, and she says she is 20 years old. The police are worried about the girl, because they do not know where she came from or where she was going. In fact, she is surrounded by mystery. Investigations by the police have been hampered so far by the inability of anyone to understand her language, which is said to be.a peculiarly mixed Russian-French-Polish dialect. What makes it more difficult is that the girl can speak or understand very little English. The girl was “ discovered in Christchurch in peculiar circumstances. A Red Cross worker was waiting at a tram stop for her tram into the city. To pass the time of day, she made a remark to the girl, who was standing beside her. The girl replied in her native tongue. The Red Cross worker then asked the girl where she came from. The girl said “Warsaw.” When asked where she ’was going, the girl described her destination as “47 Emu street. Where 47 Emu street is, or any place remotely connected with it, is still testing the ingenuity and imagination of many people. As the girl appeared to have nowhere to go, the Red Cross worker took her home, where she stayed from Wednesday to last Monday. Then the girl was lost again. Her host left her sitting in her car while she went shoppine, and returned to find her gone. The police were informed that the girl was missing. Although every effort was made to trace her. she was not found again until Wednesday—this time by another Red Cross worker, who recognised her. Meanwhile, the mystery of the girl s arrival has still to be solved. It is thought that perhaps she arrived with other Polish girls on the Stirling Castle.