Fined £5Oo
pp. 78-79 · Read in the full issue
Sampan Captain
Welter of Conflicting Reports
THE master of the Japanese sam pan, Kyogo Maru, caught: stealing trochus shell from the* Hermit atoll, westward of Manus: (New Guinea waters), was finedj £5OO. The arrest was reported in last; issue.
Such a jumble of reports was published in the Aus tralian newspapers that, at this: stage, it is difficult to know what; actually occurred in the North west Islands (the various little groups in the north-west comer ofl the Trust Territory area), beyond! the fact that the Japs were caught! red-handed in the Hermits.
The first reports said that thee Japs landed oh an island in thee Ninigo group occupied by Mr. Dam McCosker; that they accepted hos pitality from the planter; that they, then seized and carried off a con siderable quantity of bagged trochus shell and copra; and that Mr. Mc- Cosker was unabie to report thee occurrence for some weeks. This was mostly exaggeration and im agination.
Planes and small craft went out) from Manus and caught a sampanr actually taking trochus off the reefsE in the Hermits, which are leased toe Mr. Qus Kuster. The poachings vessel was arrested and taken toe Manus.
After that the newspapers got) into an inextricable tangle as be tween Mr. Kuster and Mr. Mc- Cosker, and the Ninigo and Her mit groups. The PIM has seen noc official reports; but probably thes facts are as follow: — The Hermit “group” is a big atolll of 14 islets. It is leased to a well known man, Mr. Gus T. Kuster. Hes has lived all his life in New Guineas —he was for a time on the gold fields. He lives on Maron islet withr his wife and step-daughter, in as hardwood house built about 1900 by; the Germans, and their four child ren and his two step-sons are inc the care of the Catholic Missionn station at Vunapope. Mr. Kusten has the concession to take coprae and trochus shell from the Hermit) islands.
About July, Mr. Kuster had his. first visitation —Japanese craft cames in and took away a lot of trochus. shell, off the reefs. Two other simi lar craft visited the Hermits —the 9 last of them being the sampann arrested.
Owing to a radio breakdown, Mr.i Kuster could not report the first); theft. The report finally reachedb Manus through Mr. McCosker, whoD appears to be interested with Mn Kuster in the Hermits. (This is onlyt
surmise, from a garbled report pub lished in Brisbane.) Manus acted immediately and sent out planes and small boats to search, and caught the Jap sampan in the act on August 5. Its dories were out on the reefs, gathering shell.
The sampan was escorted to Manus by a RAAF crash boat, with the District Commissioner, Mr. Tom Aitchison, in charge. When the sampan arrived at Manus, the Jap captain disappeared. The news papers called it a suicide. Mr. Ait chison, however, alerted the natives, and they caught the Jap hiding on one of the Palawatt islands, li miles away, and he was brought back to trial (See photo on p. 7.) Mr. W. E. Sansom, as magistrate, constituted a District Court, and fined the captain, Sakihama Shumai, £5OO (maximum under the Territories Fishing Ordinance) for shell poaching, and ordered that the Kyoyo Maru be impounded for 50 days. Higher authorities are con sidering other charges against master and vessel.
Police Sub-Inspector John Graham, who boarded the Kyoyo Maru on her arrest, said that the vessel carried charts of New Guinea, the Coral Sea, Great Barrier Reef, Solomon Islands, etc.
The Kyoyo Maru had been licen sed by the American authorities in :he North Pacific to fish in areas
north of the equator, but not below the equator. She was about 60 ft. long and carried 44 Japanese. She was equipped with at least half a dozen dories, fitted with small engines, which were used to search the reefs.
So much fuss was made about the “danger” to Australian security as a 'result of these Japanese sampans wandering around Manus, that the Australian frigate Barcoo spent the last 10 days of August showing the flag among the North-west and other islands of the area.
Philip Chapman, aged 4, of Rabaul, achieved front-page fame on August. 28. A city newspaper camera-man snapped him standing in awed wonder before a display at an exhibition in Sydney, and he and the exhibit made an unusual and attractive picture.
The Norfolk Island Society of Auckland, founded five months ago as a rallying-point for ex-Norfolk Islanders, is enjoying an active and useful life. Membership is now nearly 200.