FIGHTING IN PAPUA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 187, 7 August 1913, Page 6

FIGHTING IN PAPUA.

NATIVES RAXD A VXEXAGE. MAGISTRATE'S EXCITING EXPERIENCE. HAND-TO-HAND STRUGGLE. PORT MORESBY, July 22. Forty miles south-east of Port Moresby, and a few miles from the coast stands the Government station of Rigo, in charge of Mr. Assistant Magistrate 'Chhinery. Looking northward on a clear day one can discern the mighty summits of the Owen Stanley Range, and between lies a succession of steep and rocky ridges clothed with rank vegetation. .Early in .June last a imsh "boy" walked into the station, and reported that the natives of a certain village perched on the southern slopes of Mount Obree, had raided a village nearer the coast named Kokila, killing and wounding many of the inhabitants, and retiring to their stronghold witti a large quantity of loot.

Mr. Chinnery at once took steps to invesfcigate the matter, and with a party of native police and carriers set out for the scene with the intention of -arrestin" , the alleged murderers.

It will give southern readers some little idea of the work required of Government officials in Papua when it is explained that Mount Ohree is one of the great peaks of the Owen- Stanley Range, rising to a height of 10,000 ft. and 'has never yet been sealed by a white man. The magistrate could only surmise as to the exact locality of the village, and to get there meant a scramble literally on ■hand'i and knees at times over miles of country peopled by more or less friendly natives of whose character actually very little i« known, bis only companions being a, handfnl of native police and unwilling carriers—yet it was just an ordinary patrol, such'as is being earned out d-ay after day by many a Voan" official m the Territory " Eventually the party' fonnd themselves Inl i t ? f a risi "- and they needed not the excited gestures of their guide to tell them that their quarry lav before them, for from a above them there came a howl of execra"t.on, and a large body of natives were discovered entrenched behind stron" palisades. °

-Iγ. hinnery assembled his party, and through the medium of an interpreter called upon the villagnre lo surrender. A fresh storm of howls arose, mingled with threats and insulting gestures, and suddenly tho whole villa-e swarmed over the palisades, and commenced to advance dnwnlnll on the Government party anndst whom showers of spears and arrows began to fall, several of the police having hair-breadth escapes. The position was now a desperate one, and required a desperate remedy. Calling on his police, Mr. Chinnery and party charged up the hill to meet the oncoming savages, who, staggered hy this audaefoiis manoeuvre turned tail and swarmed back over the palisades, whence they recommenced hurling showers of spears on the httle bund. The native constabulary reaching the crest of the hill, with fine courage literally hurled themselves on the palisadus, and a fierce hand-to-hand struggle ensued, during which half a dozen of the natives were shot dead, and raary wounded, before the position was actually won. Some of the killed were afterwards identified as having taken part in the KokiUi raid.

The village, which is situated in a strong position on the edge of a razorback, was defended by three stockades 12ft high, with long platforms, on which were found short spears as thick as a man's arm. with points IS inches long, evidently for use at close quarters. A largo quantity of loot taken from the Kokila people after the massacre was also found, and about 40 shields and bundles of spears were destroyed by the police. Other villages in the vicinity were visited, and friendly relations' maintained.