THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1881. ISLAND MASSACRES.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2236, 2 June 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1881. ISLAND MASSACRES.

The news just received from Tapitawa, via Fiji, of the massacre committed by a section of the natives, headed by a miscreant named Kabu, is calculated to call serious attention to the state of things prevailing in many of the islands. In this massacre, indeed, it does not appear that any Europeans have fallen. The outrage was one perpetrated under the leadership of an individual who was apparently an employee of the Church Missionary Society, and who used the power gained by his mission to mulct the natives of their worldly possessions. The natives on the southern side of the island, growing dissatisfied with his exactions, rebelled, and the ferocity of the monster then burst forth. He and his followers attacked the southern natives, and the horrors that ensued beggar description. Kabu himself has, it is satisfactory to know, been conveyed to Honolulu to answer for his crime, but the question still remains as to what adequate punishment shall be meted out to his followers. Of one thing there is no doubt. The police of the islands is not in a satisfactory condition. The British Government has hitherto failed to exercise that authority which it has undertaken to maintain. For better or for worse there can be little doubt but that on the English navy will in the future rest the onus of maintaining some sort of order in Polynesia. The trade

nth the islands is now large, and will be- I onio greater, and crimes that might have I t , toon passed over in days gone by, can no 1 a' onger be winked at. The state of the a slands has certainly not mended since a he appointment of the High Commis- * .ion. Notwithstanding the statements t! nade by the Colonial Secretary in his u dace in the House of Commons, it is an zndoubtod fact that the lives of traders B ire now more insecure than ever. And * tis not difficult to see one reason for 8 his unsatisfactory state of things. The j nethod of punishing the Natives is not I jfficiont. When a crime has been com- ' nittod a war-ship generally proceeds to :he spot and shells the village. The J Natives decamp into the hills, and a | party of sailors land and burn the houses, j The war-ship departs, and the Natives i return to their habitations. The huts ' are, after all, of but little value, and the islanders have, in due course of time, come to recognise that the arm of justico.as illustrated by the British fleet, is not of great length. People resident in those parts see this plainly enough, and are of a decided opinion that the fleet had better do the thing thoroughly or not interfere at all in the matter. The Rev. Mr. Chalmers, for instance, writing from Thursday Island, in reference to a massacre recently committed there, calls attention to the facts we have been alluding to. He advocates the employment of troopers to punish such outrages. Were a body of troopers employed for such a purpose, the natives would soon recognise that they could not murder with impunity. It would then not be a mere affair of the burning of huts, but the criminals would be pursued into their fastnesses, and the law of nations would be vindicated. A body of men such as the Rev. Mr. Chalmers suggests would do more to keep the natives in order than the whole of the British fleet. While on the one hand it is the imperative duty of England to see that its subjects do not impose upon the natives either by converting free labor into practical slavery, or by any other insidious artifice, it is equally its duty to maintain some sort of order in the vast Archipelago which it seems designed shall hereafter bo placed under its charge. MR. PITT SECEDES. Ai,as ! Mr. Albert Pitt, member for the City of Nelson, has broken with the Hall party. So says that most reliable of special correspondents on whose lips the "Lyttelton Times" hangs with such devoted enthusiasm. And no wonder that Mr. Pitt has been found out. The readers of the above veracious journal will no doubt remember, some time back, a glowing account sent by its " special" of a trip he had taken to the north of this island. When in Blenheim or elsewhere an infatuated individual undertook to show him over the place and introduced him te a number of worthy citizens, little thinking that the results of the proceeding would be forwarded ts the "most enterprising journal in the southern hemisphere." The enterprising journal, however, appeared delighted at possessing such a high-toned gentleman as correspondent, and filled a considerable amount of its superabundent space in retailing the harmless adventures of the person in whose movements it is wrapt up. The philosophical conclusions on the state of society in those parts, drawn by the " special" from his " walk round," were detailed with great relish. We must confess to forgetting what these conclusions were, bnt we can remember so far, that the " special" was struck with something peculiar about the residents, and that his brief conversations filled him with curiously decided impressions. We have recalled these circumstances to show that the " special" is a diplomat of no ordinary character. Straws show him at once the way the wind is setting. For instance, if he were to meet Mr. Pitt, and the latter were, instead of saying " How do you do Mr. B—ne P" to say " How you do Mr. B ne P" the " special" would naturally see through the reason for the extra cordiality, and discover that the phrase was not a mere commonplace, but hid an overture for secession to the Grey party. Mr. Pitt has, indeed, distinctly declared that he has not the slightest intention of changing sides. But what of that ? The " special" sees through him as if he were a pane of glass. The "Lyttelton Times" sees through him. We all see through him. It is one of the advantages of modern journalism to have astute and reliable correspondents cruising about in strange waters and picking up items of trustworthy information.