WILD RACE OF CANNIBALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 135, 29 November 1911, Page 4

WILD RACE OF CANNIBALS.

TROUBLE AT THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, November 27. On the arrival of the Mission steamer Southern Cross from the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands, it was reported tliat there, was considerable unrest among the natives of the latter group, and that several murders had been committed, a missionary being one of the victims. In the course of a. conversation with a reporter, Captain Sinker, who has been in charge of the vessel during her trips to the Islands during the last nine years, explained the position and the source of the trouble. The disturbance, Captain Sinker said, was confined in the main to the island of Mala, where the natives were a wild race of cannibals. The Kanakas whs returned from Australia were the first to stir up strife, and as soon as the natives began to realise their power the position became serious. The bush tribes bitterly resent the intrusion of the white man, and the chiefs emplov heaidrhunters, who, when opportunity offers, murder anyone in connection with .the Mission villages and carry the head of their victim to the chief as an indication of the native's daring. It may be mentioned that when the warship Torch landed! a. party to suppress the unruly ones the hill tribes concealed in the bush opened a fusillade with .rifles. One bluejacket fell with a bullet through his jaw, and the party had perforce to retreat. There is a police force on the island, but natives have to be employed, amd they are not at all satisfactory, as they only stay in the force a very short time, and ,they have little more than learnt their duties when they want to -return to their village. Captain Sinker considers that- 1 if natives could be imported from Fiji or some distant groups more satisfactory j results could be obtained.