South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2456, 1 February 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1881.

Since the Rev George Brown inaugurated a new system of evangelising the heathen of the South Seas some months ago, the progress of civilization in these islands seems to have received a severe shock. The harmless kind of enterprise of which Mr Brown was supposed to be an exponent has given way to deeds of violence and bloodshed, and matters have been drifting from bad to worse. The traders with whom the missionary identified himself, when he discarded the hymn-book and took up the rifle, have followed in the wake of the distributors of tracts and red waistcoats, and Her Majesty’s gunboats are following in the wake of the traders. No doubt the process of dealing with the benighted cannibals is a perfectly

natural one. The missionary has tried in vain to tame him, the trader to utilize him, and as neither have been successful, the brave man-of-wars’ man has been called upon to exterminate him. It seems a pity, from a humane point of view, that the unfortunate islanders cannot be left alone, but civilization and cupidity demand their land, and with their land must go their lives. This is a sad conclusion, but it accurately depicts the position. The original settlers of Tasmania, and, more recently, those of Queensland, have been severely lectured for poisoning and shooting down the aborigines with the view of protecting their runs and their cattle, but it is doubtful whether contrasted with the process adopted in the South Sea Islands, they have not taken the more merciful course. In the one case we have a series of prolonged tortures, culminating in the destruction of life, while in the other we have a somewhat barbarous and revolting yet happy despatch method of getting rid of the savage. The Queensland black, shot down like a wild beast or knocked on on the head like a kangaroo, escapes the preliminary ordeal of mental agony and physical slavery, and in that respect he is better off than the depraved Islander who is lectured into submission and then sold into foreign bondage.

According to all accounts the latest missionary that has cut a conspicuous figure among the South Sea Islands is

H.M.S. Emerald. This eminent emissary from the part of the world where the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts has its headquarters, has lately been paying a visit to the scene of the recent massacres in the Solomon Group. Its mission, of course, has been one of retaliation, not of peace. The valiant marines, with a courage worthy of the men who fought under Nelson, have shelled the temples of the native savages, and burned down many of their villages. Armed boats’ crews were sent ashore, but the perverse heathen preferred to make themselves scarce rather than wait to be shot. As the result of the Emerald expedition only one man of sin has been killed and another taken prisoner. Although this is a poor reprisal, still it is better than nothing. A good way of disposing of the dead one would be to have the body embalmed, and presented to the British Museum as a warning to cannibals generally. For after all there are cannibals in the British Isles of a far more desperate type than those who make havoc of kidnapping traders in the Solomon Group. The only difference is that the black cannibal kills and eats his victim with merciful expedition, while the white one knocks the work out of him, pockets the proceeds, and then allows him to starve slowly. How to suppress the South Sea massacres without interfering with the South Sea slave trade is a most difficult problem. The Eev George Brown’s experiment has admittedly proved a failure, for quite an epidemic of massacres have followed his heathen battue. The natives of tljese islands appear to have been captivated by the example of the missionary when he struck out a new path quite in consonance with their ideas of regeneration. Now that they have tasted blood properly, it is probable that between them and the traders the old tragedy of the Kilkenny cats will be re-enacted as long as the traders continue to molest them or an islander remains to fight for his liberty. Whether the interference of Her Majesty’s cruisers, with their shot and shell, will have any salutary effect, is very problematical. The kind of reprisals made by H.M.S. Emerald are not usually very successful. To a good many the exhibition of a British gunboat destroying villages wholesale, and sending armed crews ashore to hunt for cannibals must be far from edifying. It is a kind of shot and shell practice that can hardly add to the renown of Her Majesty’s war-ships. Would it not be better to regulate the slave traffic as far as possible, or confine it to certain islands, so as to give the natives a chance of prolonging their doomed existence a few years longer?