DUTCH VESSEL SEIZED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17219, 10 December 1923, Page 11

DUTCH VESSEL SEIZED.

CHAMPAGNE CARGO OFF AMERICAN COAST. Bj Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. NEW YORK, December 8. Further international complications are expected as the result of revenue cutters seizing the Dutch 105-ton schooner Zeehond, outside the threemile limit. The vessel was carrying a cargo of choicest champagnes and liquors, valued at 300.000 dollars. The Zeehond now lies alongside the Tamoka, while Captain H. Kraus and a creiv of nine, after the hearing, were paroled in the Dutch Consul’s custody for further examination. Captain Karns insisted vehemently that the vessel belonged to an Amsterdam syndicate and was bound from Antwerp to Halifax. She was becalmed and the tides bore her shoreward. The revenue agents declare that the schooner’s log shows that she had been hovering off-shore for more than a week. The Zeehond, they say, was a regular participant in the rum-running industry, and her champagne cargo was intended for the special holiday trade. Captain Karns states that his Government will protect him. This is the- first seizure of a Dutch ship carrying liquor, and an intimation from Washington states that the Unitea States Government probably seized the' Zeehond in accordance with an understanding with the Dutch Government, with which she is negotiating a shipseizure treaty similar to the British treaty.

One correspondent indicates that the British-American treaty can be taken for granted as virtually complete, or the United States would not have started negotiations with Holland. It is understood that the British treaty will be the standard for similar treaties with other Powers.