MASSACRE IN PAPUA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 197, 9 January 1913, Page 6

MASSACRE IN PAPUA.

SAVAGES SWOOP OX VILLAGE. WOMEN" AND CHILDREN SLAUGHTERED. MURDERERS TAKE TO HILLS. Port Moresby, December 27. Tlie authorities here have been startled by news of a revolting massacre of practically the whole of a native village, on the coast some dLstnce from the -capilal. The slaughter was porpetniiod by a tribe of hiishmen— Loninia natives—who, through little contact with civilisation, still retain savage instincts, which are revealed.on the slightest provocation. In this case revenge was the motive for the frightful outrage which will give the lie to, the general belief that I'ajma in the inland areas and in those parts little trodden by white people is peaceful and not given to acts of savagery. The authorities were aware that (rouble was brewing between the native tribes, not through tribal differences, but on account of. the tendency of a notorious chief and his followers in the vicinity of the Borowai River to raid a peacefully disposed village a few miles of the coast, which, through the civilising influences of various missions, had long since begun to appreciate the value of tilling the soil in preference to tribal warfare. A couple of months ago Chief Olma and his tribe raided a village in Magori, and without any trouble went bad, to their own haunts wealthier than they came. They gave the Magori natives a similar display of their raiding- habits soon afterwards. The authorities were informed of the. state of affairs and took steps to prevent a recurrence. Bush tribes, who for some time have had a grudge against the costal natives, suspecting that they had been the cause of the warning from the magistrate, then set about to wipe them out. ' < The massacre was carried out one afternoon in November while they were passing through Magori on their way to their own viliage, and, according to meagre accounts which have filtered through, they were guilty of shockingly extreme measures in despatching an innocent and practically defenceless tribe, represented mostly by women and children and a few old men.

_ The scone of the outrage is thickly timbered country, with small, cone-like hills showing up here and there. The first warning the village had of trouble was an alarm given by a couple of native women, who.were sitting on the edge of a precipice overlooking the valleys, where they espied avenging natives approaching. They gave a shriek of alarm. Each grabbed the other to help her to make back to the village, and in their panic they rolled over and were dashed to pieces' below. Advancing, the armed natives were soon upon the helpless ones, some of whom had taken to the jungle as a means of concealment, while others, with their piccaninnies, had gone into their huts to await their, doom. The carnage that followed wag sure and terribly swift! The avengers went through their despised enemy relentlessly. Native women, with their little ones hanging to them, were beaten down before they could, in their own simple wav, ask for mercy. Little things hardly able to realise what had happened, and/ through sheer terror, unable to utter a cry. were murdered. Dead bodies, fearfully batterad. and streams of blood throughout the village, formed a vivid picture of the slaughter to the officials who were sent in pursuit. Officials from the magistrate's department, with a number of native constables, were immediately ordered to pursue the outlaws, who had by that tinie taken to the hills. The pursuers »plit themselves into two parties, and soon overtook the murderers, who immediately showed fight. They were attacked from both sides at the foot of the mountain. The savages retreated before the party in charge of Resident .Magistrate Wuth, but the other partysuffered from the brush, as when Mr. Wiith joined forces with it he found that one of the native police had been killed outright by a spear, while several others had been wounded. It is stated that a white man who was in the district at the time was able, through knowledge of the country, to put a good distance between the fugitives and their pursuers, and enable them to retreat into unknown mountain regions. The pursuit has" not been given up. When a carrier brought news of the trouble into Port Moresby the Government immediately sent reinforcements to hunt down and capture "at all hazards" the troublesome chief and the ringleaders of the massacre.