WALLIS ISLAND.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 23, 28 January 1911, Page 7

WALLIS ISLAND.

THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST PRIESTS. COMMISSIONER'S STATEMENTS REFUTED. By Telegraph.— Press Association.— Copyright. (Received January 28, 9.55 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The Rev. Father Chevrevil, procurator of the Marist Brothers' mission in the South Seas, states that the Governor of New Caledonia- visited Wallis Island to investigate the charges of clerical intoleirataoe. He afterwards condemned th© cominiseioner's action, and eulogised tie work of the missionaries. Against this the assertions of anonymous! officers of a/n unnamed little inter-island steamer were of no weight. Tbe- fact was, added Father Chevrevil, that the King and his Ministers enacted some stringent laws protecting commercial interest® t3ie honour of women against adventurers. The statement that th© natives had to kneel while tiha priests passed by was absolutely untrue. The custom of kneeling to chiefs was extended as a mark of respect to priests, who were considered as chiefs. The statement that natives seized opportunities to run away was untrue. They were always of d. roving dispositwjft, they were 'free to travel, and frequently did so. Mostly, however, tiiey return to the island. [Dr. Birochard, French Commissioner at Wallis Island, who visited Sydney last month, stated that tho Catholic priest-3 would probably be expelled Irom the island. " He added : " Th© natives some time ago ordered the priests — five in number — to leave. They (the priests) took no notice, but imported rifles 1 and ammunition, and distributed them among the friendly natives. They deposed the king and appointed a king of t(heir own choice. The priests have been getting most of the money for the copra, the natives doing all the work. The priests mad© the natives build houses and churches without pay." The Commissioner announced his intention of placing the matter before the French authorities at Noumea.]