WHOLESALE MASSACRES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 27 April 1928, Page 9

WHOLESALE MASSACRES.

TURBULENT PAPUAN NATIVES. EUROPEAN WORKERS’ ALLEGATIONS. .UNITED TRESS .ASSOCIATION—BV ELECTRII TELEGRAPH—COPYRIGHT.! (AUSTRALIAN PRESS ASSOCIATION.) SYDNEY, April 26. Two boatbuilders, Messrs J. and L. Day, .have returned from the Delta division of Papua where they have been for the past six months engaged in building a. boa/’ for the London Missionary Society. They state that wholesale massacres, head hunting and cannibalism are rife on the Delta division. Fights between head hunters in the villages are- common and since Christmas more than 500 natives have been murdered. Just before the day they left a big fight occurred. Natives from nine villages in -the Delta division attacked the natives, of Morigio, Island, coming down the creeks in 40 canoes. The Europeans did not hear of the attack until it was over though 39 natives were killed and many wounded. ! A seriou-s 1 aspect of the massacre was that the native police were generally the ringleaders, often leading figh Lineparties in their police uniforms. After the Morigio fight 1.5 police were arrested in addition to- about 80 of the other natives. The native police would wait- until the Government officials in thei-r district were too- far away to interfere and they then would embark on cannibal head hunting expeditions. The- Days added: “There- are five Government officials patrolling the Delta, division, but the disturbances are kept secret by the Government. They concluded nobody was now safe in the Delta division and although the missionaries w r ere -doing their best they could not cope with the situation.”