Archduke I Ever Saw

A Walter Gors Story of 1895

He Was ' The Meanest Archduke I Ever Saw

t ™ a " est I ever knew was the Austrian, Franz Joseph, said Mr. Waher H. Gors, quaintly. 1 was a little astonished. “Do you mean the Archduke whose assassination at Serajevo started World War 1?” I asked.

He said: "No-Franz Joseph was the father of that bloke”; and rn! o tK lng b /i k ln his easy chair, one evening 25 years ago, he told ° f hIS de lghtful tales of tra ding in the Islands.— R. W.

IWAS the first Burns Philp manager in Port Moresby, and about 1895 we were greatly stirred by the news that the Arch duke Franz Joseph, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was visiting India and the Islands and Australia in the Austrian warship Kaiserin Elizabeth, and would call at Port Moresby.

A/r?^ ernor of Pa pua, Sir William RrlH?^ egor \u requested by the British authorities to help his Imperial Highness in every P way ?m ld i5 e wf 81 informe d me that the °ia Mesfceth would arrive in Moresby with 800 tons of coal for the war snip—I was to complete the sale.

Two days before the Archduke i lO, J^ 10 Governor and principal official ß disappeared; and the only officials left in Port were Cantain Butterworth, in charge of p?lfce the CoS: unofflclal member of We learned afterwards that, had have ho? 10 ? been here ’ he would nave had to receive His Roval ?nd h hp S bart lth J^P^a 1 honours— no? the k a „ d ow o how r the eQUipment anchored Wa ßutterworS e and"! aboard and welcomed the BrincT wf‘ ;r n W a°t^s eX a P t la V n u e i d e chie° d helpers. the Governor a «d his The Archduke, in perfect Ene-li^h SS/nA s e ough? g pe S r h -’ mission to go ashore; and ashore A Deal in Curios .They wanted curios, so I shmwpH them into a lean-to at the back nf

pay'Mo

perfectly 0 " 11 which I understood’

“How much?” they asked me We were doing pretty well nut Of the coal, so I decided to keep the

price down. “Twenty pounds for the lot,” I said. „ is too much,” said the prince. ‘That is a bad way you people out here do business—you ask more than you should.”

I was annoyed—but we wanted to get rid of that lot, and I said “Oh, £ls”—and he gruffly accepted, ihen he said in German to his staff "Watch this fellow—see he doesnt withhold any of this stuff frcm delivery”.

He Understood

I turned to General Wurmbrandt who was beside me and said: Please inform His Royal Highness that I understand German”

The prince said that that was rne we now would converse in German.

He then asked if we had any Birds of Paradise. y r ol £ we had a number— and I told myself: “After that, I’ll make the blighter pay”. we were buying Red Muir’s for 5/-, and we had sold some to the Hesketh’s crew for 7 6 My distant; put the BOP’s out SSnirt 6 + c °H? ter ’ and the visitors at them. “How much are they? demanded the Archduke, -wo rounds each,” I said. 1 will take 50,” he said immediately, “Put 50 aside for snid h tL the v,°t her . s sailed in and we sold the whole stock at £2. if he had nc!: beaten me down on those "than h w and each. haVe Charged A Deal in Cattle thPpavS ofl t - Ha nuabada, and the P a ym a ster arrived in my store PouWThe slid: 6 ShGeP ’ Cattle ’ told him that we had very mPhf SUCh stock in Moresby—we m manage some hens. frp^ Ut rio e f P » lnce T he must ha ve ’is malter. ' explained the Pay ;;But there isn’t any,” I insisted. her?,” 1 he slid. S ° me Cattle about I explained that these were

The late Mr. Walter H. Gors, who described this 63-years-old incident, joined Burns Philp in Normanton in 1884, and served in Cairns and Thursday Island; and then was five years with Burns Philp in Levuka, Fiji, and 12 years in Port Moresby. He managed Robbie and Cos. Ltd. (later Robbie Kaad and Cos.

Ltd.) in Fiji, and was the first manager of Burns Philp (SS) Ltd. in Suva.

After Fiji, Mr. Gors resided in Sydney, and made much money out of real estate transactions.

He served with distinction as a Red Cross Commissioner in World War I.

breeding cows, brought by sea fror Cooktown.

He said he must have fresh mea —would I put a price on the cow; I said I would see the owners—bu they probably would want £30 eacli m °ther of God!” exclaimed J ymast f' “ In Austria w could buy a house for that.” * s * nt around and nad a worr ™ tb the ™ ners - 1 learned that the; would sell some of the poores animals for £10 each. P **o Y ?? ,d bet ? er make £12,” sai* agreed aymaSter ’ and 1 innocentl : J v. Q *? e^? r< L,^ e can close the deal,, ca ttle will have to bt< ™™™ d *P y the doc tor and the ship’:' Could y°u arrange to have them on the beach there fo< inspection at 10 o’clock tomorrow?” t vA s it h{ L Q went he remarkeo 1 was very hot > and the party bier nmg mi Sht appreciate some

Some Lager

I got hold of George Beeford an caUl 1 e 0 and y, f and h 0 or S a nised ’ the cool la|er dozen bottIes 0l( the P ar ‘y from ‘he where p a ttlc on the shore.e where the cricket ground is now caUle?” Val ° mC0r said: <<Are thos0' thL S^ttle h dTdT r f’. and ex Plainedb climate U d d not do wel1 in that*. bon?’ 0 Li a d le nni ke H b * gs of skin andb said one doctor. another d^to ™ ther leather y” ••l“d°mt wTn, f e htlemen,” I said.,1 —thev JSS?* k° sel1 these cattles

it *ST 1 *5

ned upd another• °vf r naval officer said too the We obli £ ed under i fresh met f to , £ rovide the crew with r iiesn meat, whenever we can get i

“Donnerwetter! I had not thought of that,” said the other. “But it doesn’t look to me like fresh meat.”

“Better than salt meat,” said the other. “Perhaps we could make beef tea out of them —that would prevent sickness.”

Finally they said: “How much?”

I said £l2 per head, and they ordered 20 head to be delivered aboard next day.

Deal with the Paymaster Next day, the Governor returned, and he organised a party to go up the Laloki River, shooting BOP’s.

The Paymaster came ashore to settle with me. He gave me a draft on the Austrian Consulate in Sydney for £2,000, for the coal, and he paid out gold for groceries and curios. Then, from another bag, he counted out £2OO in gold for the 20 cattle.

I “Wait a moment,” I said. “The price of those cattle was £l2 each — £240.”

“No, you said £10,” he replied.

“The other £2 is for me.”

And then he tried to get me to sign a receipt for £240.

I heard, long afterwards, that he was caught red-handed in his thievery, and was sentenced to 14 years in a fortress.

The Archduke came back from his shooting expedition, and then went to Yule Island to call on Archbishop Navarre, who was there at the time.

When the prince returned, he sent Count Clamm to ask me to go aboard after dinner that night, so he could arrange for a special collection of birds to be sent after him.

Lit a Cigar The prince came into the lounge, and I saw Count Clamm drop on one knee, as he held a light for His Royal Highness’s cigar.

The prince said he wanted a collection made, to be sent to Genoa, to go to his chamberlain at Vienna.

How much?

I said I had made inquiries—it could not be done for less than £SO.

He said, curtly, that was too much.

I explained that men had to go a considerable way into the interior, and it was a chancey business.

“Nonsense,” he said. “I have myself, in the Laloki, shot four different kinds of birds. It is easy.

You keep those four birds out of the collection, and we’ll say £45.”

I had to agree—we were in structed to be very kind to His Royal Highness—and a formal contract was thereupon entered into.

We lost on that £45 transaction, and we had to wait twelve months for payment. . Yes, he was the meanest Arch duke I ever knew.