The New Hebrides.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7734, 9 February 1905, Page 4

The New Hebrides.

' ANOTHER OVTRAGE REPORTt m \ NATIVE WOMAN HACKED TO I>IECES. A private letter received in Sydney from the New Hebrides gives* pavticu r lars of an outrage lately perpctratoi s by the natives on ilalekula Island. 0 i The writer states :—" The trade . on the coastal island of Acliren wen c away in his cutler to transact com r business, leaving his place in churg r of his native wile. The day alter h „ left tfc natives had a i|iiarrel anion! 0 thefaSelves, and some of them ruwlw . off idjlie trader's house, where the; e saw \h!f woman shooting flying-foxes ,» One ol tWm protended to point on i a fiyihsKoJc to her tn a banyan tree and whilst she was looking the otli er one shot her in her thigh. The; then ran away, and the uafortunat woman dragged herself to the hous and took refuge -in an undergroim ccl/ai'. During the night .she lrcnii someone moving in the house, and i: her agony she called for water. A soon as the brutes found her, tho; pulled her out, shot her in the ureas and then hacked ncr to pieces. Thi done, they proceeded to loot th house, and after getting allthe spoil they destroyed everything—chair.' tables, witftfcvvs, doors, and rooi burnt the copra-house, and destroyc 11 the boat-house, and then rushed o - to the French mission staion an f destroyed that, the occupants foi - tunately being aivay. Tho native s then jgot the woman's red dress, tie t - it to a large bamboo, and stuck i e up in a conspicuous plnco. The trad er's waiilcboat was taken by th , natives, and they ferried themselvc e and their belongings on to the* main a land, where they dug deep trenches f protected by stone sangnra, to iigh I, the. warship. They have since block 3 ed the passage between tho small i; ~ land a«l the vowing thn „ they TOiltisHotit any white m a n win a goes through. _'_ "Only one-half of the populatioi .is concerned in the outrage, th . peaceable half remaining on the i' r land. The whole district isinastat , of anarchy. All the natives of th . neighbouring islets of Van, WuJla . Hano, and Urlpiy, besides those o: _ the mainland, are now waiting ti see which: way the cat jumps. , | '•" lit is a disgrace," concludes th. , correspondent, " to both Great ]!ri . tain and France that they should al , low such a condition of things to c\ . ■■', . T' y nu "' h dollM i! anvthin, w-ill be done, even in this case. Th ellect on the surrounding natives ; increased insoliicc."