The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1918. THE MOTUIHI COURTMARTIAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVII, Issue 16477, 23 February 1918, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1918. THE MOTUIHI COURTMARTIAL.

The sentenee of disanissal from the Defence Sprees of -LieutenantGolonei Harcourt burner for allowing German, prisoners • to escape does not cause surprise. A Department jsvliicli is apt to be most saving- • when expense is really warranted, may not have provided its Commandant at .Motuiki with, the best means for guarding daring and resourceful prisoners. It may have been a foolish policy, which made the commander of the Seeaddler and his trusted officers companions in captivity. But the more the Commandant had to fear from an attempt of his prisoners to escape, the more bound' was he to exercise all vigilance and.take all precautions in his power to prevent such an enterprise being plotted by them. Actually .his complacence was such that,, after putting his chief captives on "their honour as German officers" not to break the regulations of the island, "they were allowed such freedom and such opportunities to eseaoe as might easily have proved fatal to detention of confirmed inebriates, if -Mqtuihi had been an island for their custody. For weeks before their flight was'mad© they were able ha hatch plans! amass supplies, and make other preparations for it, without incurring suspicion in any quarter. Germans manned the launch which, except for a telephone wire which was unguarded, formed the only communication with the island; Germans even were responsible for delivery of the snarkins" plus-s when the launch was moorel. That they were "thorouo-kly reliable" Germans, in the Commandant's estimation, did not prevent their profiting by such opportunities, and the prisoners left the island without being missed, until some time afterwards, when the garrison had no boat to follow them. . Von LuGkner's comment "(You left the door open, and yon cannot blame me for walking out," aptly described the Commandant's negligence. It was "his bird," t>rimarily, and, with a reduced faith in German guilelessness, Colonel Harcourt Turnei will hardly wonder why he has been dismissed. It is interestinq to note that the escape of such redoubtable captives was not cabled to the British Press till it was known, more than a west afterwards, that they were again prisoners. A message of niu3 lines, in the London "Times,"' rer>orts the escane and adds "The Germans were recaptured a few days later at Fernadeck (PFernside)." , While the message, as it was published, shows a limit to the knowledge of "The Thunderer," its lateness andi its brevity appear to indicate that authorities in ISTew Zealand were noi proud of, the -Hot-uihi incident.