PUNITIVE EXPEDITION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 414, 25 January 1909, Page 5

PUNITIVE EXPEDITION.

RECENT MURDERS AT THE SOLOMONS

SEVEN NATIVES SHOT,

(dt tei.eorai'ii— niEsn association— copyihciit.) , ' Sydney, January 23.

' News: : :has"', been, received from; tho' Islands 1 that.a punitive^^expedition,.under Mr. Woodford, 'Commissioner of the Solomon Islands, 'shot.-afe natives, ,and,at I^ati^^l^ij^/five; 1 . btncr^r^whp;' ; were .group.-; The expedition also .destroyed a,number (:of canoes, and • other'property,.and ; .ie-. : large' quantity,-, of -loot stolen' at the time of outrages';'' : . yX r \.; '■ .; :;.;.,. ■•■ ■

HISTORY OF THE CRIMES

j; 'i Some, months-rhaVfynbw ' elapsed since: the Imorders in question took placed The principal outrage, was. the-murder of a 'trader earned : Oliver Byrnos;"'at Marayou Lagoon.'News to hand in June last'sta-ted'that a'native .who had •been 'for-the murder , of .another, naUve c6mmitted suioide: ; His' friends'&erenpon sought the' lifeiibf/a-Nwhite'. man. They boarded Byrnes's boat.V'atid , while enED£ed in an apparently .friendly" chat kiUeaKim with ; an axe.: Subsequently, they .drove the native orew one. ,and., scuttling . the boat.. The mails_which caine.to hand early, in November • oontained aoobnnts ' of a :. serious native,- reyolt on' .the island:' of CtUadalcanar; ;lt\appears/.that, a., number. pf:i: natives' em-' ployed on Xever Brothers' plantation at Luna deserted .from.; the" station, carrying off all the arms they could lay hands upon.' They, with the' assistancevof ; others, organised 'a , raid on the store at but were'unsuccessful. So .serious did' matter?;;beepme, that a- punitive ■expeditioh".:wds-'.6ent'out,"and two of the.natives were,shot,,': Two others were driven over a.oliffand killed..; . ; . .' . ';

!.Witih. respect, to the; matter,, a Dominion reporter : yesterday,-interviewed .Dr. Deck (a lecturer i .urideft'} e auspioes of-the South Sea 'Evangelical' Mission), who is' at^present::.in Weljington. Dr. Deck stated that more extensive'punitive expeditions could now be un:dertaken;in the-Group ovring it the fact that the authorities had , 'acquired a-steamer'called the Bellariia,: from; Sydney. Hitherto expeditions of .the .kind..were, .usually, made once a year, when a -warship, turned up.- ..Not long' ago four man-p-war boats, containing 75 men, searched for'four,:or.five days in the vioinity of Jlaravou .Lagoon for the murderers of ■Byrnes, but. their .efforts proved fruitless in oonsequenee''of the. natives' having- been forewarned. In fconneotion with' the pliihdering !;at :-Messrs.-'. Lever':':Bros;'.■.■plantation- the: , native carried away,, almost-every thing, that Was portable;; ;y)y: r ;^:-- '■-'/ ■■'•■-■ ■-. . ■• .-.