OCEAN ISLAND CLASH.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 286, 3 December 1925, Page 9

OCEAN ISLAND CLASH.

CHINESE USE FIREARMS. TEN KANAKAS WOUNDED. LABURNUM LEAVES AUCKLAND. Further information concerning the clash between the Chinese and Kana"ka phosphate workers on Ocean Island, which was reported in last evening's issue, has been received in Auckland, and it is now known that the trouble was more serious than at first anticipated. As a result of the receipt of the later information, H.M.s. Laburnum has been dispa.tched from Auckland for the scene of the trouble.

Additional details of the affair were received by Mr. A. F. Ellis, New Zealand representative of the Phosphate Commission, to-day, the message having come via Australia. The latter fact accounts for the delay in delivery. Interviewed this morning, Mr. Ellis stated that apparently about four hundred Chinese and a number of the Kanakas had clashed, and that as a result, ten of the Kanaka boys had been wounded. He could not say whether or not any of the wounded were in a serious condition.

Mr. Ellis had been informed that the Chinese had succeeded in smuggling a quantity of firearms onto the island, unknown to the strong force of armed constabulary which is stationed there. His information concerning the trouble was very limited, but he had reason to hope that there had been no loss of life. Steps had been taken .to restore order, and he thought that it was likely that conditions were again quiet.

Laburnum Dispatched to the Island. H.M.s. Laburnum received orders .to proceed to Ocean Island on Monday, and the sloop was announced to sail at midday yesterday. Later, however, the orders were cancelled, advice having been received that her services would not be required. But last evening the warship was again ordered to leave port, and she took her departure from Auckland at 8 o'clock this morning. She will first call at .Suva to replenish her coal bunkers, and will then proceed to Ocean Island, where she is expected to arrive within ten days. No details of the trouble have been received by the naval authorities. As stated above, Ocean Island, being the headquarters of the Gilbert and Ellice Group, is provided with a strong force of constabulary. This was considered sufficient to keep order, but as a result of the present trouble a number of white men employed on the staff of the company had been enrolled to assist the police in restoring order, said Mr. Ellis. The Chinese and kanaka races had always displayed a certain amount of animosity towards each other, and evidently this had been fanned into a flame and caused an encounter between them. The Chinese, however, had never shown any animosity towards the European inhabitants of the Island. "

Seamen's Help Declined. The tramp steamer Pearlmoor, which visited Auckland some months ago, is now loading phosphate at Ocean Island, and Mr. Ellis had been informed that tho crew of this vessel offered to assist tho constabulary and whites on the island, but that the offer was declined. This fact would indicate that the trouble is not very serious. The Administrator of Nauru Island had also offered to supply 80 members of the constabulary force from that island, but it was not known whether tho offer had been accepted.

Mr. Ellis said that trouble among the workers on the phosphate fields was very unusual .and that since 1900 firearms had never been need by the labourers. He was confident that the position was now well in hand.

Ocean Island is in latitude Odeg 52m south and longitude IOSMeg 35m east. It is of coral formation and is almost oval in' shape, being six miles in circumference. The nearest island of the Gilbert Group is about 200 miles distant.

The British flag was first hoisted at Ocean Island during the month of September, 1901, and in March, 191G, a wireless station was completed and opened for use.

• The phosphate, with' which ths island abounds, is worked by the British Phosphate Commission. The company employs about 100 white men, a number of Japanese and Chinese, and a large number of native labourers recruited from other islands. The indiTstry is surrounded by all comforts and conveniences of modern life, there being splendid sewerage and fresh and salt water systems, electric light, refrigerators and ice-making plants,.and telephones. The domestic and living conditions are probably as comfortable as any other place ill the Pacific. The aboriginal population has benefited in a pecuniary way 'by the advent of the Phosphate Company and has never given any seripus trouble.