SOLOMAN MASSACRE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 3, 25 March 1927, Page 7

SOLOMAN MASSACRE

MURDER OF POLICEMAN FURTHER TROUBLE UNLIKELY That the recent massacre of six native policemen in the Solomon Islands was not cause for any further alarm was the opinion expressed by Dr. Northcote Deck, head of the South Seas Evangelical Mission at the Islands, upon his arrival at Auckland last evening. Dr. Deck is not apprehensive of the situation. He said that the murders occurred at Guadalcanal one of the largest islands of the group. The trouble had arisen through the violation of the law that no native should have more than two wives. The district officer for Guadalcanar had sent a native constable to bring the offender to the coast, but as he had resisted a force of seven policemen had been found necessary. Probably what happened then was that the policemen used their rifles and the natives retaliated by murdering them. The natives, and particularly the tribe in question, were a law-abiding people, and he had no doubt that the whole thing was an unfortunate misunderstanding. Dr. Deck added that he had left the Islands the day after the news of the massacre had come through, and he did not know what steps were being taken to bring the offenders to book. He thought it would be necessary for some action to be taken by the district officer in order to maintain his prestige.