Friday, September 21, was a day of intense excitement in Suva. Early in the morning a startling message came through that the steamer Amra was expected to arrive in port that evening with a detachment of German prisoners. They were members of the crew of the german raider, See Adler, which, it is stated, was burned at sea.
The first intimation of the arrival of these unwelcome visitors to Fiji was given by a halfcaste named Macpherson, at Levuka. He said there was a strange boat with six Europeans in it at Waikava, a small island between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. The natives, it was stated, became alarmed because these strangers would not talk, and were armed.
That night the Amra, with Captain Day in charge, arrived at Levuka, and proceeded to Waikava. There they found a 22ft boat, with a cutter in tow, which, when the Amra was sighted, immediately put off for a break in the reef. Captain Day, who was determined not to lose his quarry, lowered a boat, and Sub-inspector Hills, Inspector Howard, and six Fijians gave chase.
Their only weapons were a colt's revolver and an automatic pistol. Fortunately, the bluff that was being maintained proved so successful that the occupants of the cutter did not show fight, although all were fully armed, and they surrendered after a short consultation.
The Germans were ordered into the British boat, one was left in the cutter to work the engine. The cutter carried a machine gun, 15 bombs, and a large quantity of ammunition. The British officers occupied the captured boat, and towed their prisoners to Amra.
Count von Luckner, commander of the See Adler, naturally was anxious to know the strength of their captors, and when it was told him that the guns he imagined he saw were merely cattle pens covered with canvas, and that the crew's sole defence were a revolver and a pistol, his face was a study.
After having been, as he asserts, wounded in the battle of Jutland, and having command of a vessel that, according to his story, had the proud distinction of having sunk 23 boats in the Atlantic, it was indeed an indignity for him to have surrendered to such bluff.
The See Adler's mission in the Pacific is stated to have been the capture of grain boats and saltpetre, but von Luckner stated that he had no luck. He says that he took no lives and did not sink any steamers.
The logs of many destroyed vessels were on the captured boat. All the men got away from the burning See Adler, but von Luckner will not say where they had intended to go.
Musselburgh floods
The residents of Alfred street, which runs alongside the Musselburgh School on the Tahuna Park side, would appear to have a distinct grievance against the Drainage Board.
An inspection of the locality by one of our reporters yesterday afternoon showed that the backyards, and in some instances the front ground, of the houses in this street had been badly affected by the recent rains, and that there was still a large quantity of water lying on the premises referred to.
In most of the yards the residents have had to make pathways by placing planks on boxes, etc., to enable them to get to their outhouses and fowlruns. In the Musselburgh School grounds a large quantity of water accumulated on Tuesday, and there were several pools there yesterday.
The residents affected say that the flooding is the result of two causes. In the first instance, they state that the drainage from the Musselburgh School ground is not as effective as it should be, and that the overflow runs into the backyards of the premises on the town side of Alfred street, and that the premises on the ocean side of Alfred street are flooded by the water running in through a 9in pipe leading out of Tahuna Park.
The water at one time went through an open drain past the pumping station to the harbour. Recently, however, this drain has been closed by the formation of a road, and the water now simply finds its level in the vicinity of Alfred street.
- ODT, 11.10.1917.
