JUMP FROM SHIP

Southland Times, Issue 22478, 14 November 1934, Page 7

JUMP FROM SHIP

FOREIGN AUTHOR LANDING REFUSED IN AUSTRALIA STIR AT MELBOURNE (United Press Assn— Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 9.15 p.m.) Melbourne, Nov. 13. When the liner Strathaird was leaving for Sydney to-day Herr Egon Kisch, the Czechoslovakian author and novelist, who was not permitted to land in Australia, jumped overboard and landed on the wharf, spraining an ankle. He was immediately escorted back to the ship by two detectives. Kisch protested, saying that he could be arrested, but not returned to the ship. Many of his friends took part in the protest, causing a sensation. It is also reported that a number of Communists incited Kisch to leap to the wharf. Earlier in the day the Chief Justice, Sir William Irvine, dealt with an application on Kisch’s behalf calling upon Captain Carter, master of . the Strathaird, to show cause for his detention. The application was dismissed on the ground that he is an alien and had no right whatever to claim admittance to the Commonwealth.

Customs officers at Perth refused to allow Kisch to land. Kisch had arranged a lecture tour in Australia and had intended to represent the International Committee Against War and Fascism at the Congress Against War in Melbourne. Professor Murdoch declared that Australia had disgraced herself by excluding an author of international repute such as Kisch, who was merely coming to Australia as an antimilitarist professor. Mr J. A. Beasley said that it was a sorry compliment to the intelligence of Australian people that they were not trusted to think for themselves. Mr R. G. Menzies, the Federal Attorney-General, replying to critics, said that the Commonwealth felt itself under no obligation to admit persons of this type. Kisch was excluded from Britain because of his subversive views and his association with Communistic organizations.