Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 73]
1914
most flagrantly, international laws of neutrality. They had used Juan Fernandez island as a base; they had sunk British merchantmen within the 3 mile limit; they had stayed in Chilean ports longer than 24 hours under false pretexts; they had patrolled & examined ships within the 3 mile limit; they had commandeered coal at Punta Arenas, Straits of Magellan, after having been refused it by the Chilean authorities; and they had set up private wireless installations in the country. The natural result was, that the Chileans began to engender a bitter hatred for the Germans, which had its effect on the German colony in Valparaiso. It appears that Germans own the electric tramway service, and by arrangement with the Government they were allowed to raise fares when the rate of exchange went down. It was found, however, that the Germans were deliberately using this excuse to gather funds for German war loans, & the people quickly retaliated by breaking up the trams, and eventually damaging the whole of the rolling stock & stopping the system. Banks belonging to Germany were attacked, and German ships in the harbour were allowed neither coal nor provisions, & everything German was strictly tabooed. So much were the Germans disliked, that in one case, a boatload of young Germans who pulled round the "Australia" to look at her, were arrested & clapped in prison on