CHINESE KILLED IN CLASH ON NAURU ISLAND

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22694, 20 July 1948, Page 5

CHINESE KILLED IN CLASH ON NAURU ISLAND

SYDNEY

July 18.

Four Chinese were killed on Nauru Island in a clash with Australian members of the Nauru Administration, according to a report in the Sydney Sunday Sun. The report claims that fighting occurred when hundreds of Chinese labourers who had completed two years’ service on the island refused to board the departing steamer Helikon for China. Hundreds of coolies armed themseives with spears, clubs and axes, erected barricades and posted notices warning the officials against entering the barricaded areas.

When Australian officials ordered the Chinese to lay down their arms and board the ship, they were met with a shower of stones. Shots over the heads of the crowd failed to halt the Chinese, and the officials then fired into the melee. Two Chinese were killed immediately and two others died of wounds.

Situated 16 degrees east and 2 miles south of the equator, Nauru, which has the largest reserves of high-grade phosphate in the world, is administered by Britain, Australia and New Zealand. During the second World War the Japanese occupied the island from August 25, 1942, to September 13, 1945, and extensively destroyed buildings and plant. It is expected that it will take four years for full production to be reached again.