WALLIS ISLAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 7

WALLIS ISLAND.

DR. BROCHARD'S STATEMENT. AN ABSOLUTE. DENIAL. Tho Very Rev. Father Nicolas, Pro- ■ vincial of the Marist Fathers in tho South l-'ea. Islands, is at present on a visit .to-Wellington.'-;. I" answer to a question in regard to' Dr. Brochard's rc- •■.! cent'churgq agnirist the priests on Wallis Island, Father Nicolas said Dr. ■ Brochard canio to Wallis with tho set. purpose of frustrating 'tho good work of tho Marist Fathers, and'banishing them from the island once, and for all. Why, even before he reached Wallis at i all, when passing through Suva on his way to Wallis, Dr. Brochard (French Commissioner) showed_lns prejudice and bitter animosity against the.priests by proclaiming that lie would Boon fiud away, of getting rid of them, i His predecessor, 011 his. return from Wallis After .spending five or six weeks ' with him (Dr. Brochard)-declared that Dr. Brochard had begun to boha'vo so badly that unless he soon changed histactics, there would bo bloodshed before ais months wero over. ... : . His opsu warfare against tho mission began on l?alm Sunday , of last year, when he issued a decreo signed by himself and tho King, whom. 110 had won ' over, to his side, declaring that unless '• Father.Bazin (the • superior of .tho mis- - sion) left tho island by a.steamer that ; Dad just entered the harbour, he would < . ' Bend for a man-o'-war, and have tho priest deported. ' The pretext, it ajb pears, was that the Commissioner had '' foui.d out, or thought lie found out, ~ that' some four years previously, when 1' translating a decred; issued .by the Governor ..to tho natives, ..Father Bazin had omitted, to 'translate ,a certain clause. . Of. course i Father Bazin took no notice o'f his threat and false accusation. Father Bazin did not leave the island. . The. natives, hearing of the insult offer- ~ ed to their priest, arose in their hun- .:'.-. dreds,! blackened their faces as they do in time of: war, gathered round the King's two-story house arid Dr. Brochard -uttering . yells and fhouts as only, natives know how. They .forthwith deposed the . King,. , after a scathing 'denunciation. of his ugly behaviour, and unanimously elected . a new king,', who cancelled tho, decree, and 'left"the poor Commissioner alone, and decidedly discomfited. Both Father Bazin and Dr. Brochard wroto the. history of tho . affair. to the Governor of ' New Caledonia, who,' about the month . of June last, went to Waßis to investi- ■ gate. r. . - After hearing the evidence, ho found Father Bazin absolutely blameless; and . . Dr. Brochard responsible for all the trouble'. .•• The Governor told the chiefs to assemble and elect a new ' king— either'tho one they had-deposed, or the 0110 they had elected, or another at 1 - their choice. They all chose the king they; had already , elected after the scene'already referred to above. . .

.'".■•' On his way- back through Fiji, the Governor gave an account of all that had- happened to Father Nicolas. He declared taht it .'was'not possible for Dr. Brochard to stay long at Wallis. As'&■ "matter of fact', he has just been recalled. -No wonder, that spito and a spirit; of revenge made him speak in the manner reported by • cablo a week ago. ■ Tho natives ayoided him.' Al-. though sent there in the.capacity of a doctor;, only one woman choso to consult him all the time he was at Wallis Island. His accusations against the priests are all fabrications, invented by mab'cß-and engendered by disappointed hopes. The priests imported neither gnns - nor. ammunition.,>,fJ}Q,' natives do.. w'ith,pieircopraand,odcpnut:fieldS)?;hatT.ever .they. like. The priests have only one field oL cooonut given- to each. station-for .the support 'ajt ,the : school., IV. is ..' build... .their . own. churches" a3id' schools,-if not .with their, money, .as elsewhere, jat least with their hands., ... r , ■:V . -

Dr.. Brochard, shortly before his departure, tried to prevent the natives from working, without being paid for it. The king;'-who was ■ working , like tho rest,.then- decreed that those who work-, ed would bo paid at the rate of Is. a day, and those who did,not,work would have to give us. a day.

Dr. Olier (Bishop of Tonga and Wallis) happened to bo'in Sydney when Dr. Brochard arrived a 'Week ago,. and Was ablo;to contradict immediately the statements of the French < Commissioner. The following day'a reporter from tho Sydney ."Herald" called on Dr. Brochard, who*,stated that-ho would rather not Bay any, more about, tho affair 1