The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-03-09

Mystery surrounds the German mer.
chant refugee steamships Pommern and
Setos, and the question of what if any.
thing, is to be done with them is one
the answer to which APPARENT nobody
| knows. "A
The orders of the board Of harbor
commissioners, as expressed in a resolu.
ton adopted Monday afternoon, that
the ships be Immediately towcd outside
the harbor, have not been carried out.
Whether they will ever be carried out
is still another mystery.
Nobody connected with these various
mysteries will talk. Whenever any
one of them is approached he immedi-
ately cloaks himself in impenetrable
| silence.
Following the exclusive publication
ir The Advertiser yesterday morning Of
the fact that the harbof board, in star.
chamber session the day before, had
adopted resolution fnstrueting Har.
bOrmaster Foster Immediately to re-
move the German vessels from the har.
= bOr,, extraordinary activity began to
manifest itself in civil, military and
naval circles.
Urgent demands, it is understood
were made upon Governor Pinkham to
declare himself and state what position
he intended to assume in regard to
what is looked upon as a grave menace
7 ! to the safety of the Honolulu water
= front and the possibility of the closing
: Of the harbOr entrance by the sinking
OF one Of the vessels across the channel
Governor Stu Silent
. Army and navy officers also wer,
a whisked upstairs in the Capitol elevate
9 and held conferences behind the closeC
a doors of the Solid Ivory chamber. Tn
telephone was also brought into use.
gI But the Great Silence remained un
@ broken. If Governor Pinkham had an,
4 ideas on the subject they were not 70
!. public consumption. 1t is understood
however, that the Governor has put tn
. whole question of the disposition of tn
A German ships up to Washington and j
! awaiting instructions from the higher
\ apps 1T the national capital.
|. L Yesterday afternoon the harbOr boar
a held another star chamber session. Tn
y commissioners locked themselves in an
~ stayed there for nearly two hOuri
= Two or three times Chairman Charlie
r. Forbes came ont and rushed wildl
across the hall Reporters who tried I
stop him and learn what was dOin
were impaticntly waved aside. Char
les X. was busy. '
Closeted with the board was +. "
. Klebahn of II. Hackfeld & Co, agent
n for the German merchant vessels. Cal
l., L.. - a. nj
present. When he emerged from tn
council chamber and saw the newspape
men still waiting, he ducked through
side door and fled. Captain Foster
10 usually willing that the public sha
y know what is going on, but he can
~ give out information when IT is el
~ pressly forbidden by the commission
~ Franklin In Mystery
le Malcolm Franklin, collector of tn
y port. also entered into the myster,
70 Yesterday afternoon he made the fla
~ footed statement that he would not pc
= nit guards of any kind to be place
" aboard any of the German vessels.
81 have no objections as to whel
those vessels are placed" said Franz
ill., "but it must be particularly unde
6 stood that the Territory cannot plaC
armed guards-Or any other kind {
guards-on those ships. The superVi
- ion of those ships is something thi
o. rests exclusively with the collector (
n. the port. The question of what I wi
Il. do if the territorial officials do attemI
ne to place guards on the vessels is som
no thing that l do not care to discuss
IN this time. | will cross that brid(
- when | come to it,"
IN 1t is understood that if Captain Fo
p. ter had been left alone, the Germa
vessels now lying at territorial pie
would have been removed by this tim
Foster intended to do the moving
them himself. But Forbes changed Il
de plans. At first he wanted to ha'
1t Hackfem & Co. move the We
Is, sells, and Captaib Fosters letter vi
in drafted accordingly. That course,
n. is pointed out, would have left Il
es German crews aboard the vessels al
lie there would have been nothing 10 pr
o., vent their blowing up one or both
them in the harbOr mouth. And if