TRIBAL FIGHTING.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 327, 14 October 1908, Page 7

TRIBAL FIGHTING.

PUNITIVE FORCE. OPERATIONS IN GERMAN ISLANDS. ALLEGED MASSACRE. (bt telegraph—rnrss association—copyright.) Sydney, October 13. Further news is to hand of the intertribal fighting at Ponape, one of the Caro-' lino Islands, a grotip sold by Spain to Germany in 1899. In response-, to. the' request of white residents for' protection, tho German authorities in Now Britain sent a punitive expedition of 100 police. Tho expedition has returned after a fight with the natives. A,-.number of tho latter were shot. The statement is confirmed that the previous fighting ;waV confined to rival native tribes. The Gorman East India Squadron has arrived at tho islands, and peace is now assured. It is reported that the natives at' Rock' Islands, belonging to-;tho\;Neu<.i Pcmmern Group, for some unexplained reason massacred thirty of their womenfolk. ■ A punitive expedition" will'be sent. PUNITIVE EFFORTS:*'A .TRADER'S'VIEW-' POINT. From the standpoint of British residents and traders—or at any rate some of theni:—German punitive methods in the savage islands of the Pacific are far more effective than British. Mr. C. B. Faddy, Messrs.. Lever Bros.' trada agent at Maravo, Solomon Islands, complains to an Australian paper that a white man s death is not avenged as it should be. He quotes six cases, including that'of..Captain Mackenzie, who was killed; at; Malaita. The cruiser Cambrian was sent to avenge the deed, and they made a lovely hash of it. No ona was killed, and the warships were 'treated with contempt. Practically nothing was done in the case of the murder of Oliver Burns, though the Cambrian was;agai'n dispatched on' a punitive expedition. Nor was anything done by the residents of the island itself. "It's a funny thing' tlie. Cambrian cannot quieten the natives of Malaita like the Germans have quietened Bougainville. Bougainville used to be just as bad as Malaita, but now'the place is quiet, and they 'have roads right through the island. If."the Germans can do this, the British should be able to do tho same. It is useless for a warship to-just 6tay a day or two. They should scour the islands,' and stay until their mission of vengeance is accomplished. Look at the result of the murder of Mr. Wolf in New Britain, ; which is under German control. The heads of the chiefs' responsible for the outrage .were sent to - tho authorities in a month or two."