CANNIBAL FEAST INTERRUPTED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23752, 25 September 1942, Page 5

CANNIBAL FEAST INTERRUPTED

U.S. SERGEANT OBTAINS NATIVE LABOUR

(Rec. 11.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 39. The Honolulu correspondent of the “New York Times," from an advanced airfield on a South Pacific island, tells how an American sergeant interrupted a cannibal feast to recruit native labour to help to build the airfield. A United States Army captain said: “Navy marines working to rush the building of the airfield needed native labour, but could not get enough here, so we sent a sergeant to another island. When he reached a village there were the natives, wearing a single wooden belt and a coconut-husk loin doth, just finishing a feast of which the main dish was 10 women stolen from the chief of another tribe. “It seems that tribe A stole and ate the wife of the chief of tribe B. Therefore, tribe B retaliated and stole the other chief’s II wives. When they had finished the meal the sergeant dickered with them. They agreed to come and help us for a certain period, because they had heard that others had received, good treatment and wages from the Americans,’’

SPEECH BY MR HARRY HOPKINS RESENTED (Rec. 7 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept, 23. “It is an insult to every member of Congress,” said Mr Albert Thomas, in the United States House of Represen* tatives, when criticising a speech by Mr Harry Hopkins to the National Inventors’ Council, in which Mr Hopkim said; “Only one thing is important—whether we have in Congress men who want to win the war.” Mr Thomas said that that was tantamount to an accusation that some members of Congress did not want to win the war, Spanish Ship Sank.— According to the Buenos Aires correspondent of the United Press, the Spanish Embassy said that official reports had confirmed that the 4058-ton Spanish steamer Monte Gorbea was sunk near Martinique with the loss of 24 of her 47 passengers. The Monte Gorbea sailed from Buenos Aires for Bilbao on August 20.—New York, September 23. Indian Air Squadrons.— General Sir Alan Hartley, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, India, said there were four Indian air squadrons, in one of which the personnel was half Indian and half British. There were five coastal defence flights, with four Indian commanders. One Indian commanding officer had been promoted to wing commander.—Rugby, September 23.