JAPANESE PEARLERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 306, 31 December 1935, Page 7

JAPANESE PEARLERS

AUSTRALIAN WATERS STRONG ACTION URGED. BRISBANE, Dec. 19. A prominent pearler, Mr. V. J. Clark, said to-day that unless the Federal authorities moved speedily in checking the depredations of Japanese pearlers in Northern Australian waters, the shell and pearl fishing industry, as carried on by Australian companies, would be unable to exist without a Government subsidy. Mr. Clark said that the operations of Japanese and the competition they caused was chiefly responsible for the unsatisfactory state of the industry. There was no doubt that some Japanese fishing vessels entered territorial waters, and thus came under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. Mr. Clark also asserted that Japanese pearlers made contact with skilled Japanese divers employed by Australian companies, and persuaded them to join their countrymen. He thought the proposed use of patrol boats by the Commonwealth would not stop the Japanese, but would only harass them, and drive them to less-frequented areas. The only solution was for the Government to move more vigorously. Unless vessels carrying heavy armament were sent to apprehend them, the Japanese pearlers would never be intimidated.