NO RIOTS IN SOLOMONS

Chronicle (Levin), 11 July 1947, Page 5

NO RIOTS IN SOLOMONS

Press Assn.-

Reported Attacks On British Denied

By Telegravh

'Covvriaht

Received Friday, 11 a.m. • LONDON, July 10. A Colonial Offiee spokesman categorically denied reports of the last three days that* native warriors from Malaita crossed to Guadalcanal, armed with ."spears and blowpipes, and.attacked British settlers there. The spokesman said: "Until this morning no news has been received in London of any untoward events in the British Solomons. No statement whatever has been made by us confirming that native warriors from Malaita had attacked Guadalcanal. We have now received a telegram from the Acting-High Commissioner in the Western Pacific, Mr. J. F. Nicoll, which says that the Resident Commissioner in the Solomons, Mr. O. C. Noel, described the report as incorrect.'^. The spokesman said" Mr. Noel had stated that rumours of a declaration of war probably arose from a meeting on Malaita on June 30, when 7000 labourers from the island's copra plantations had met to discuss possible strike action. The District Commissioner of Malaita himself was present at the meeting, which rejected the strike proposal but decided not to reengage when the current contracts expired. The spokesman added that this huge gathering, seen from the air,' might well be interpreted as a 'sign of trouble." Mr. Noel, in a later telegram to the Colonial Office, stated that the District Commissioner at Malaita had revisited the area and found no evidence whatever to support the "press and broadcast reports if trouble." (American airmen returning to lustralia from Guadalcanal told of rioting between natives and whites 3n the island).