Judge Stuart

Departs

Experiences on Raiders

NOT the least of the difficulties that faced Judge W. H. Stuart, formerly Chief Justice of Tonga, while he was in Sydney in January (after his escape from the German raiders), was the loss of his official wig and gown.

With all his other worldly possessions, they are now at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the liner Rangitane. The Judge did his best to secure others, both in Sydney and Auckland; but when he left Sydney for USA by air-mail on January 16, he had not succeeded. As wigs are not worn in USA, there is little likelihood of his obtaining one there.

Both the Judge and his wife were heavy losers as a result of the Rangitane disaster. Ancestral portraits, silver, and glass were all lost—also his commission as Chief Justice of British Guiana. Ac tually, the latter document was deliber ately destroyed to prevent it falling into the hands of the Germans who boarded the Rangitane.

One document, which was shown to the raiders, was a letter of appreciation from the Tongan Privy Council, in which the Judge was referred to as being “on pension for 100 days.”

Mrs. Stuart, who spoke German, and who feared that her husband would be detained as a prisoner if he were recog nised as an official of importance, pleaded that he was in a state of mental dis order, and the ruse worked.

Incidentally, Judge Stuart was allowed to visit all three German vessels, in search of his trousers, and so he acquired much information that later was received with gratitude by Australian intelligence officers. He was the only prisoner per mitted to visit all the ships, and unless the Germans had regarded him as quite harmless they would never have given him that privilege.

Another Stuart possession now at the bottom of the sea is Queen Salote’s fou.

It was given by one of the Palace ser vants at Nukualofa to Mrs. Stuart’s cook.

The latter, in turn, presented it to his mistress as a gift of peculiar significance!

Judge Interviewed

A Commission of Inquiry, set up in New Zealand to investigate charges that much valuable information had “leaked” from NZ to the German raiders, inter viewed Judge and Mrs. Stuart in Auck land, on their way through to America.

The following was published in the news papers on February s: There were certain gaps in the evi dence, added Mr. Cornish (Solicitor- General), addressing the Commission.

One person had been referred to some time ago as a very high judicial officer, on whose behalf startling revelations were promised. Although that high judicial officer, who. Mr. Cornish believed, was a Judge in Tonga, had been given every opportunity to make a statement in New Zealand, and had done so—as had his wife—these statements had given the Commission very little assistance, and had fallen very short of what the public had been led to believe they would be.

It was only fair, however, to say that tne Judge had disclaimed having said in Australia much of what had been at tributed to him.

Mr, O. D. Schafer, merchandise mana ger of Steamships Trading Co., Port Moresby, Papua, arrived in Australia recently on holidays.