NEW HEBRIDES TRIBAL WAR.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8102, 4 October 1904, Page 3

NEW HEBRIDES TRIBAL WAR.

ct « VERY SMALL MISUNDERSTANDTmJ ,-. THE CAUSE. o' STORY OF CAPTAIN GASPARD. „ fPBMS ASSOCIATION.] r-'. • (Received October 4, 9.38 a.m.) SYDNEY, October S. According to a letter written by CapI tain Gaspard, Resident of New Hebrides, to La France, Australia, the recent tribal war between the coastal and bush tribes c originated in a very small misunderstanding. Somo natives near the Presbyterian mis- .- sion station organised a feast and invited a the bush tribes. The latter discovered , to their dismay, a few days later that the 0 yams had been cooked in a utensil for1 merly used for roasting a pig. They re- , garded this as an outrage, and took re3 venge for the insult. • j | What eventually took place is not deI finitely known, but Captain Gaspard says j , the native report js that the Rev. Mac- ' kensie, principal of the mission at Santo, ' upon hearing of the murders, summoned 1 the warriors of the bush tribe to appear ' before him, and assured them they need 1 not fear harm. On the other hand it is said the bushmen were given to under- ■ stand that if they failed to obey the sumi mons information respecting the murders i would bo furnished the British author- < ities, and the result would be a visit of a warship. ' , The bush tribes wero alarmed at the . threatened visit of tlio warship, and de- ' cided to approach the Rev. Mackenzie. . According to uncorroborated reports some I of the natives told Captain Gaspard that they were required on their arrival at ' the door of the mission house to lay down ' their firearms and other warlike weapons, and it is further alleged by the natives ' that no sooner had the warriors of the bush entered the verandah than they were attacked with clubs and tomahawks by some natives at the mission, and 13 bushmen were slaughtered. ■ This is an ex parte statement by the blacks who were concerned in the first ' murders.