"SAVAGE" BLACKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 45, 22 February 1934, Page 5

"SAVAGE" BLACKS.

STARVING WHITE MAN. RESCUED BY ABORIGINES. FIFTY MILES ON STRETCHER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 14. "In the Far North those 'treacherous blacks' are at it again, as when in the North-West they saved and sustained the lost German airman." To explain this rather mysterious sentence, one may remind readers tha.t the Telegraph" is referring to the rescue of Bertram and his comrade, whose aeroplane "crashed" more than a year ago on one of the wildest and most inaccessible parts of our Northern coast. Aliens in a strange land, without food or resources, and incapable of shifting for themselves, reduced to helplessness by the privations they had endured, expecting only instant death from the natives wiio niight discover them—how were they received by our aboriginals? These primitive people, whom the Germans, like most other men, had been taught to regard a<3 the most degraded and ferocious savages, welcomed the wanderers, tried to alleviate their sufferings, gave them sustenance from their own scanty store, and even masticated for the castaways the food that was too tough for them to eat. Finally, by running long distances through almost impassable country, they 'brought help, and thus effected a rescue which, without their sympathy and help, would have been absolutely impossible. As we so constantly hear the blacks described as "savages," and we receive frequent assurances from many of those in high places that our aboriginals understand only force and fear, it is well to be reminded from time to time of this marvellous rescue of the German airman. Prospector Saved. The special occasion for this reference was provided for the "Telegraph" this week by news of another rescue—credited this'time to the natives of Cape

York Peninsula, who are generally believed to be quite ae "ferocious" and "untamable" as any other "abos." A prospector named Lareen lost bis way, fell ill. and was found at the point of starvation by some natives. They constructed a rough stretcher, and carried Larsen nearly 50 miles through the jungle and over precipitous hills, swimming rivers which harbour great numbers of crocodiles, but remaining faithful to their self-imposed duty till they had brought the sick man to safety. It is some consolation to know that their good work was not fruitless, for Larsen was still alive when he reached hospital, and now seems likely to recover. But what are we to think of the people who, in the face of an accumulation of such proofs of kindliness and generosity, still maintain that all "abos." are "treacherous" and "ferocious," and that, like the Red Indian of the old Western frontier days, they are "'better dead" 1