JAP “HELL-SHIP”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 57, 9 March 1946, Page 5

JAP “HELL-SHIP”

STEAMING INTO CYCLONE APPALLING EMBARKATION SCENES

Recd. 10 p.m. Sydney, March S. The Japanese destroyer Yoizuki, which at noon to-day was 200 miles north of Brisbane, is still the biggest news item in Australia. Afternoon ! papers carry banner headlines stating that she is steaming into the centre of a cyclone and is already believed to be in heavy seas. In reply to an order by the Federal Cabinet, Commander Araki, of the Yoizuki, has radioed that all was well. He said that he would answer with his life for the safety of everyone aboard.

The Yoizuki, a demilitarised Japanese destroyer, cleared Sydney on Wednesday with more than 1000 prisoners and internees aboard.

Her departure raised a storm of protest in Australia, and demands have been made that she should be recalled. She has been described as a “hell ship.” The ship has 40 tons of fresh water, and fresh meat, taken aboard at Sydney was placed in a disconnected refrigerator in which the temperature was 80 degrees. Cooking arrangements are the vessel s original equipment, designed to feed a normal crew. As the passengers are confined in makeshift deckhouses occupying the position originally taken up by the turrets and as the only lavatories for passengers are temporary wooden structures hanging over the stern, heavy seas would soon make the lives of the repatriates unbearable. The passengers include 15 stretcher cases and two women In an advanced state of pregnancy. In a broadcast from Canberra. Mr. Fraser, a Labour member, challenged the Government when he said: “It. Is inconceivable that I should defend the treatment of these Formosan women and children. Am I to be told that because I am a supporter of the present Government I must be silent on this issue? I reject that entirely. T do not propose *o deviate from the principle for which the party stands, hut while I remain a member of Parliament I will exercise my right and declare mv mind on such issues.” Last night. 75 members of the House of Representatives were invited to attend a midnight screening of a newsreel showing the embarkation. Six, all memoers of the Country Party, attended. They expressed themselves as appalled and sickened by the sight and more than ever determined that the snip should be ordered into port immediately. Opinion, however, is not unanimous. The Chief of the General Staff, Lieut.-General Sturciee, said that he felt the outcry about the Yoizuki was "more sentimental than sensible,” and Jhat such conditions were quite normal by Japanese standards. The ship could, in fact, have carried 15 more. If any service was responsible, it was the navy, as the army's job finished when the repatriates went aboard. He doubted if the repatriates were objecting to the travelling conditions, although they were mistakenly upset thinking they were going to Japan Lieut.-General Gordon Bennett said that technically some repatriates micfht now be Chinese subjects, but they were still Formosans. “If Japan had won, they would have been waving Japanese flays in our faces.” he said.