ISLAND MURDERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 232, 1 October 1928, Page 10

ISLAND MURDERS.

TROUBLE IN SOLOMONS. CAUSE NOT POLITICAL SPECIAL COMMISSIONER'S VISIT. VIEWS OF SIR HARRY MOORHOUSE. Solomon Island murders, committed some months ago, especially those of Captain Bell and Cadet Lillies and 12 native police, have been the subject of inquiry by Sir Harry Moorhouse, who has returned from the Island by the Tofaa to-day. He was sent out as a special commissioner by the British Government to ascertain whether there were any political reason behind the crimes. "And I came to the conclusion," he said to a "Star" interviewer, "that there was not." Sir Harry is a genial, elderly giant of about 6ft 3in in height and broad iif proportion, has spent a lifetime among primitive races. He was for 25 years in Nigeria, where he held the post of Lieutenant-Governor. "I have retired the colonial service," remarked Sir Harry, "but you know," he added with a smile, "that occasionally they want a gentleman to do odd jobs." In speaking of his mission Sir Harry said there were two sets of murders. One could be wiped out as unimportant and concerned the murder of three natice police. The other crimes were considered important enough for H.M.s. Adelaide to be Bent up as agesture to the natives, many of whom think that the Government Agent and polive are the Government, and by killing them they get rid of all authority.

Tribe Rounded Up. Sir Harry said it was necessary for him after his inquiry, to go to Suva to confer with the High Commissioner of the Western Pacific (Sir Eyre Hutson). In regard to the major murders he said Captain Bell and his cadet, accompanied by native police, were on their duties collecting taxes at Malaita, and were massacred by a tribe which was subsequently rounded up and treid by a special judicial commissioner from Suva, the judge at the Solomons being the the time invalided. It had been suggested in Australia that the murders were committed on account of the imposition of native taxes, but he could say the native taxes only formed a small part of the trouble. "If you have a grievance," said Sir Harry, "the fact that you have to pay a tax adds to it. We all find that." All the evidence was against the suggestion. The murders were purely outbreak by the Sinerango tribe. It was a matter of comment that the neighbouring tribe had paid the taxes two days before the murders were committed. Of the Sinerango tribe 198 natives were rounded up and when investigations were made 24 of them stood their trial at Tulagi, the capital, six <being found guilty and hanged, and 18 sentenced to terms of imprisonment as accessories. Asked how the Solomon Islanders compared with African natives, Sir Harry said the African was always cheerful and a smile and a laugh settled most arguments, whereas the Solomon Islander wtas irresponsive and dour. Cannibalism, in his opinion, was a thing of the past, and he found the natives cheerful enough, but the treatment accorded to a white man depended entirely on his mission. Speaking of cannibalism. Sir Harry said there a nice little plantation now under European management in the Islands, where in bygone days victims were kept and fattened, and used when required. Many murders, he said, were the result of vendettas, and a man might b slain for something which happened 20 years previously. The native committing such a crime would consider he was doing right if brought before a court. This was the result of primitive living. The missionaries had done splendid work in teaching the natives obedience to law, order, and cleanliness.