NATIVES ILL-TREATED

Evening Star, Issue 24329, 19 October 1942, Page 2

NATIVES ILL-TREATED

JAPANESE-OCCUPIED ISLANDS (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) SYDNEY, October 18. Natives in the Japanese-occupied islands are living under conditions ot slavery, according to “ boys ” who have escaped from Rabaul. The “boys” were members of a large party which arrived in Allied territory after a mouth's journey. When the Japanese occupied Rabaul the natives were rounded up into barbed wire compounds. They were put to work, given insufficient food, and frequently thrashed. Former Japanese residents of New Britain have been, brought back and appointed to positions approximating those previously held by Australian district officers. These officials dispense summary justice. A native said that one Japanese official who had been a trader in'Rabaul some years ago concluded his inquiry into a dispute between two natives by cutting off the hand of the man he believed responsible for the trouble. Three hundred Japanese geisha girl* are stated to have been brought to Rabaul. The girls dress in kimonos, with wooden clog shoes. The native* have been forbidden to speak to them.