THE NATIVE INSURRECTION IN NEW CALEDONIA.

Clutha Leader, Issue 221, 4 October 1878, Page 5

THE NATIVE INSURRECTION IN NEW CALEDONIA.

(Abridged from the. Sydney Morning. Herald, , ' r. {September 8.) , ; ..-,.. „ '„ , . With reference |to the native war in ..New Caledonia,; ,we"giy,e ,tKe, f pllowirig cx r tract from a private t letter ' received'' from our special commissioner, who has! been three weeks at." the front." At present he declines to express any decided opinion on the many varied and presumed causes ■of the - revolt, : and '•, the , , action., .taken in suppressing the same •;, but the following facts speak for themselves." Writing from Noumea on Augu'st;2B, he says :— '•'■ - '•■ . " The revolt is spreading in the; neighbourhood of Moindon, to the north of Boulapari, and where, until, now, the natives have been ostensibly friendly. More massacre of whites have taken place. Now, as regards this, I was on the spot at the commencement of the, trouble, and knbw the truth of what I write. On the lpth or the 11th of August a cow or a pig (some sajr the one, some the other) was speared dnthe, station of M. Boyer, near Moindon, 90 miles from here. The proprietor is at present in Noumea ;. but. his men, freed ' convicts : (liberes), made a : refio'nnaisd7ice } ; ' ' and ' falling across some natives,, the 'presumed, perhaps the real, authors of die outrage, they shot : two, a man and a ;woman. —Act 1. On August 12th I rode from the' camp atFouwhari with Oapfcairi'ljLuthriois/ ithe governor's aide-de-caiup',' to Moindon,. intending to visit the native village,;, and the* chief.'Baptista, until- this itime.momiri^lly; a friend of the Government ; Moindon is the iaead quarters of the ■* agriGul- , tural centre '; of tie craicgsi^i'ons allotted. to ; liberes, who are Here, all smaii^uitivalors. M. de Laubarede is.the civil .director, land mayor of the communel; ■■'} It hasfbeen<the policy, arid 1 1 believe ."'the 'wise, poHcj,' of the present , , Admiriisiratipni' ' to/ preserve' friendly. relations with all tlte/ natives f'.fiut- 1 sidethe immediate. scene okreypltl !, -Npwy ; although iriariy of Bap tiste's .young: men It were.!pupppsed" to 'bb 'withJ'the 1 rebel' leader Atai, stilLh^^^ Some sayatfiaLhe/^ a chief of a > small tribe^. is joo&ed' iip , ' to, as a ''pair o£ Jl great "■ ability) and- influence j-rhad' 'sent his^"fi^Hting men to aid Altai;' whilst he" .stopped behind .-"to .watcH 'eveiits f .'; i: ' J^isdri heads have told me that many of the 1 Moidon natives left their, villages because the. liberes around told them they would all be shot by the troops. ;■ . ;| ; : . ■ "But the ;killing;^of jKe 'man and woman by Bpyer's men^wl^rtti^e beginning, of what follows. . When^Wfi "yawived- at. Moindon we found > all ? excitement. \ A. } libere, named' Briere^ha"df?that' mornjng J been killed by the natives, and his : lbgs cut off, for supposed Vanthroppphagy, the first case yet known, and which shpwa i that 1 : thw ; was done as the -act of deadly re? yehge. Act 11. A scouting partyi sent , to Baptiste's village, ''discovered.' that it was deserted. He Jbad ; pasied lover "ip the enemy. The next day five natives who had been imprisoned in. the calaboose at Terpiaba, since 'the commencemeni^E the troubles,.,' 'for.; presumed ' compli|il3f| were to have ; been. tried .b^.^^t-maflii^i." But:., after Briere's murder' the^trialiwas dispensed with, and ; the \ Oanaques* ware. marched out to th* 1 , spdt where « the ■, librere was killed, guardea by' & large number of soldiers arid arm ed ,f rarictirfeurs, and shot, after being informed by. tlie i'-commandaiik/ M. Vanauld, chief i ofithe arrondissemerit ■'of Uarai, ' that they were executed' for ,th_e ; , suas ' of their .chi^ff ' Three ct; of these men hadbeen empJb^ed/aß'labourers^/repairing{ ?thei teleg^raph^, linei'in^d^two.^ *w.eve f boatmen ■at < Teremba. >„ One ; was a petty chief, and^ another thei 'son:; of as chiefs They^i^d'without^a V^inufm&ry ; ''aii.(i ".feheir^ bodies were afterwards ! cn^&V'Vm^rc\xidL: ;6ut '-iWitji, the \\4TPQ^\^^"^6^d^^i^miki) meet their ifate^withfmOT&^ililo^cian^ *Tliis h ;waß : Act "U (.*■"-'' Since ; [then;Jrwe! Bear r jbiiai' tKj£trib/esC^ and imenjhayj been;killed jins.theMp^ • actsHiri feth'w r <ttrag^y{?fwlxi6tii^ f^oy^^ >kuo'w4wh¥re jdistuct*isf*beiDg|ssurroundeaftby#brockS mouß^ej^Tb4s|wU^^t|KrancejE^^m^^^

amount of money, although perhaps nofcsJ bo much as the Maori war did New Zea- I landJL- _ ..„...: ,„ ,_ _ y''4 | The " special correspondent ' >:: of- : the I [Sydney Evening- News gathers from a ■'s. jnumber of letters received from Ner4 Caledonia "that th^geneW belief is that i ithere will be a general rising; of th©^u'u-l .christianized: native^ population. * gentleman, expresses;" the /belief that. even. (0 among the supposed J&ghting friendlies | an understanding exists j with the rebels^ 1 which i is. interfering much with , the' -'-i mo' ements of the : troops.. For '•• in-. , ? stance, there.; is language, only /knowfli X to the chiefs, and .there" are :cer-Vf tain signs and counter - Bigns knoW'st I only to/ the chiefs, so that ; even i when in combat the troops can be com-vf; pletely frustrated- by ; the signs and con-; ]■ versations carried on between the sup-;> posed frien'dlies and the rebels, "it id -A aupppsed that, with the exception of the\# Mission Kanakas, the entire, native popu^ lation about Kanala, Nakety, Oualou, anii, Vi even Gomen, will j oin Atai. Moindon is.' ';;■, in insurrection, and poor Monsieur Honr daille, a settler some. 70 miles north of ; Bourail, is not at all pleasantly situated, j being completely surrounded. The na- | ti ves attacked La Foa .in, the open day iv j great force. They were well received by ; the troops, and it is said 100 natives were • i killed ; butj curiously, no loss Tof V the , j troops is mentioned. This omission^ couplied with news received from another quarter, conveys the impression; that, the ~\ Government admit of no losses. The number of white settlers and gendarmes, etc., killed amount to 156, but of the . soldiers and sailors killed there is no official or anynews, and the number of natives; killed must be received alspwith caution. .The killing of the natives imprisoned afc Teremba without trial or court-martial has been much commented on in .Noumea as a very bad stroke of policy on the part of the Government. It will certainly only tend to exasperate -the entire native population. The natives are fighting with great pluck. They bury their dead attherisk of many lives. The authorities, as a rule, in New Caledonia leave the dead as food for pigs and dogs." ' , , , .