THE SINGAPORE MUTINY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 254, 6 April 1915, Page 6

THE SINGAPORE MUTINY.

DUE TO GERMAN INTRIGUE

(From the Sydney Sun.) Froemantle, March 25.

"If the insurrection had happened four hours later, Singapore would have been wiped out, and Great Britain would have temporarily lost an outpost."

Such were the words this morning ol Captain W. J. Dalgleish, master of the .steamer Charon, when discussing the resent uprising ef a native regiment :n Singapore. Captain Dalgleish brings other important news. From him we loLirn that the whole trouble was caii.-ed by the plentiful distribution among the natives of German gold sent from Bangkok, in Siam. When some of the dead insurgents were picked up after the fight as much as R;> and 00 sovereigns were found on them. "The white oflicers who were shot by the natives under them," explains ;he captain, "had been aware for days that something untoward was happening, u:ul they warned the colonel 011 the very d.iy that the natives had selected for mutiny. He ordered that the ammunition should be removed from the troop quarters. This order was carried into effect at 3.30 o'clock in the afternoon. I arrived in Singapore seven days after the trouble, but my information on the matter is quite reliable. The natives hid chosen 8 o'clock in the evening as the hour of their mutiny. They did this for the reason that everyone in Singapore is at dinner at this time. They anticipated (hat they would march to the gaol, theo to Government House, and on to Palo Breni, which is a strongly-garrisoned >- land overlooking Singapore. They anticipated that they would sink all i.'-e ships in the harbor, and complete the destruction of cverv white male in Singapore. Ido not think that they meant to shoot white woman. The shooting of Mrs Woolcombe was quite accidental. I am sure. , "Wellj the crisis was irrought about at 3.30 o'clock in the afternoon of th> eventful day by the white officers of the regiment starting to remove all the ammunition to Singapore. When the natives realised this they rushed the aiuniiinition waggons, and fighting mid kil''ng commenced in real earnest. Many of the mutineers were already well supplied with ammunition, as much as 300 rounds having been discovered 011 the pers:>"s of some of the men. It was during (he attack on the ammunition waggons that most of the white oflicers were killed. Tt must be, said to the credit of the Pahans that they threw down their arms when the fighting commenced, and the great majority of the Malay Straits Guides stood up against the mutineer*. "By this time the whole town was alarmed, and although some of the .•Mutineers succeeded in getting to the camp where the German prisoners were, that was really as far as they got. They cut the barbed-wire entanglements, and cried out to the German prisoners, 'Come and ler.d us,' but the latter were quite eannv, and instead of leading the mutiny they slunk out into the back country. Unhappily for the natives, a British sloop-of-war happened to b" lying alongside the wharf, and some handy men, together with two machine guns, landed, and made towards the advancing mutineers. They met the latter at the bridge at Keppel Harabor, and finally dispersed them. The trouble was that the armed natives were advancing along a road which was at that' h >u>\ as always, frequented by women and children who like to take a walk in the comparative cool of the afternoon. For this reason the sailors could not use their machine-guns, as they were frightened of hitting noncombatants. However, the handy men did wonderful execution with their guns, and one sailor killed 110 fcw?r than 15 of the mutineers.

"In the meantime, near!;; every m:n in Singapore had been armed, and women and children were hurried away to phvceg of safety. Even the Chinese were given arms. However, the fighting proper was finished by the following morning, and the natives were completely beaten. Three of the German prisoners who were liberated 'from prison at Sing.ipcr: I; the natives were sailors who originally belonged to the celebrated Emden. These men had escaped from the Emden's collier, Markomania, before the la I ,tor was sunk by the Yarmouth. The Emden's moti bribed some'of the Chinese to help them to get away, and the Chinese in turn sold them to the authorities, with the consequence that they were captured by a French torpedo boat at CaJabari Islands.

"With the exception of about 50 natives, who are still hiding in the jungle at the back of Singapore, the whole of the natives have been placed under arlest. Two of them have been shot, and the British have sent for three Indian Princes to try the rest of them. This was a very wise step. Every man in Singapore is now practically armed, although the safe area is extending every day. Motor-cars parade the outskirts systematically all day, and the Territorials—a fine, well-set-up body of men —have arrived there to keep order. Singapore is once again almost its normal self, and this despite the defepcrat'j attempt of Germans in Siam to bribe the natives."