Alert Japanese

Sprang for Cover When Cruiser Fired

THE activities of a mysterious Japanese vessel, described as a trawler and named the “Takachiko Maru”, aroused interest in Fiji and Tonga during August—so much so that when the vessel arrived in Nukualofa, Tonga, the British Agent and Consul there, Mr. A. L.

Armstrong, ordered the vessel to be searched. Nothing suspicious was found on her, but it was noted that the crew of the vessel was twice as large as required for normal trawling or trading, and her radio apparatus was very powerful.

There was a very amusing incident in Nukualofa. The trawler left Suva while the New Zealand cruiser “Achilles” was still at anchor there. Several hours after the Japanese vessel anchored in Nukua lofa, H.M.S. “Achilles” arrived, and, in accordance with custom, the British warship fired a salute of 21 guns to the Royal Standard of Queen Salote of Tonga.

The crew of the Japanese ship had lined the rail, watching the arrival of the British cruiser; but, when the “Achilles’s” guns bellowed, the Japanese, as one man, threw themselves prone upon their deck, evidently believing that the British were firing upon them.

The Japanese vessel sent to Nukualofa an intimation that she would arrive in Nukualofa at a certain time and pilotage arrangements were made accordingly; but the vessel arrived four hours before the appointed time, and made her own way through the reefs and channels into Nukualofa anchorage. The captain of the vessel said that he had come there to trade; but he refused to pay the licence fee that was imposed. The trawler re mained two days in Nukualofa, paying harbour dues, and then disappeared.

Japanese In Rabaul

A smart, white Japanese vessel aroused great interest in Rabaul during the latter part of August. She was called the “Hakyukoh Maru”, and she was variously described as a mother ship for pearling sampans and a training ship of the Imperial Fisheries Institute. But nothing less like a commercial vessel could be imagined—she had the trim lines and smart appearance of a navy vessel, and the extraordinary number of young men who came from her, and thronged the streets of Rabaul, were definitely of a naval type.

The little men, attired in naval uni forms, marched around Rabaul in all dir ections in a very orderly manner, com plete with smiles and cameras. The Aus tralians in Rabaul looked them over curiously, and watched their activities with interest, but made no comment.

Miss L. West, of 109 Ferguson Avenue, Myrtle Bank, South Australia, writes that she is “intensely interested in life in the Pacific Islands and would be glad to estab lish a correspondence relationship with pen friends in the Pacific”.

Rev. J. D. Copp, 8.A., and Mrs. Copp, who have joined the staff of the London Missionary Society, arrived in Apia in August. Mr. Copp comes from the Uni ted Church of Canada and has been studying in England and the Continent.

He will be Principal of the Leulumoega fou Boys’ High School at Malua.