Japanese Poachers

Little Chance of Prevention, Says N.G. Official

AUSTRALIA’S chance of preventing Japanese sampans from pearl and pearl-shell poaching in Northern Aus tralian waters are extremely remote, according to an official of the New Guinea Public Service, who passed through Bris bane on April 20 by the steamer Nankin.

The official, who recently visited Japan, said that as a result of the action taken by the Dutch in seizing sampans recently, the Japanese Government was bound to take an aggressive stand if a sampan was put under restraint in Australian waters.

At Osaka, he said, he learned that the pearl fishing company whose sampans had been operating off New Guinea and North Australia, was delighted with the results of their enterprise, and it openly announced that revenue from pearl and pearl-shell harvests from these regions had enabled the company to convert a debit balance into a substantial profit for last year’s workings.

Japanese poachers had been causing continual trouble for years around the Dutch East Indies and the Philippine Islands. Protesting merely seemed to bring about an increase in poaching.

Commenting on the destruction of the property of residents of Purdy Island, off New Guinea, last February, by crews of sampans, the official said he had been given to understand that this was in revenge for the action taken in New Guinea, some years ago, when a Japanese sampan was seized by the Administration.