GERMANS IN AFRICA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17666, 19 December 1917, Page 10

GERMANS IN AFRICA.

A POLICY OF SHOOT, STARVE AND BURN. KULTUR IN THE DARK CONTINENT. (By CAPTAIN ROWE, Fighting with the British Forces in Africa.) "The treatment of carriers lately by the Germans has been terrible. Their carriers include our Indian soldier prisoners of war and many wretched villagers, young boys,' old men and women; in fact, they catch those who cannot run away. They chain them together and just work them until they die of starvation and exhaustion. ..In following upon Wahlo’s trail from Mala ngali to Bupembe we kept finding dead and dying carriers. Nor after an action do they trouble any more about their wounded Askari, but just leave them to die.” The above is an extract from an official report received from BrigadierGeneral Northey, tho commander of a British column in East Africa. The knowledge that even the soldiers from India who were taken prisoners by the Germans at the beginning of the war are being done to death in this singularly brutal manner must stiffen still further the determination of every Briton to put an end once for all to an intolerable state of affairs. EVERY COLONY SUFFERS. This unimpeachable evidence from General Northey is not singular. The evidonco of a similar character from every colony that once had the misfortuno to he in German hands is overwhelming. It also bears out to the letter the threats which Germany uttered hofore tho war to unbelieving ears. She lias promised again and again in her official “ Kroigzbrauch im Landkreig©,”< no less than in the works of her most authoritative writers, to shrink from no cruelty calculated to inspire terror to her advantage. This being so, proofs that she has kept her word may seem necessary. It is nevertheless advisable, now that the immiment prospect of defeat is inducing her to veil as far as possible her former deeds and utterances, to keop the memory of the past before us. That tho present deeds of Germany are in exact keeping with the so sho has committed in the past intensifies tho charge against her. A British Blue Book gives details of an indisputable character relating to a great number of trials in German South-west Africa before tho war. These clearly indicate that savage treatment of the' natives by Germans was not the exception, but the. rule, and it is evident that the principle generally accepted was that a native, could' be shot at sight for any alleged offence. Tho following are merely instances from, very many similar cases: — A LIST OF CASES.

Walter Bohmer, N.C.0., murdered two Herreros and: wounded two others-. They were running away from service; ho just called them to him, and shot th Ftenk Jusez, pohee officer, murdered a native accused of theft bv kicking and "stamping him to death after flogging him. A Bushman was flogged to death on the oH-chanco that he,meant.to steal.; This will give , a general idea ot tue offences committed daily in German South-west Africa. More important is the case of a German officer named Venuleth, of. .the same colony, becauso words used bv him in his defence suggest the habitual and intentional attitudo of the German towards the native. Venuleth was tried by the British (by ft court of the Union of South Africa) for shooting two Bushmen after a trial that was a mere farce. One cynical excuse he gave tor his conduct was that “they wero Bushmen, and the Bushmen are a great nuisance' and always stealing cattle.’’ Incidentally lie made this frank admission, “ I would in certain circumstances convict a man against whom a charge had not been proved. He was eventually acquitted on the ground that ho had somo reason to believe that the murdered natives wore spies. . . , . A similar state of things existed in the German Caineroons. Here the merman native troops were almost invariably allowed every kind of, license, in their dealings with native civilians. They could murder, rob. ' burn and carry off women pretty much as. they pleased. In a. shortsighted way tho poliev may have paid. Natives accepted military service readily, both for the advantages which they gained and the disadvantages which they escaped. Yet it would bo hard to believe in such a policy being adopted bv a civilised race if it were not in strict accordance with . principles openly avowed long beforehand. MANY VILLAGES BURNT.

As illustrative of tho Germaii attitude in the Camoroons towards neutral natives during tho war, a passage from a captvued document is peculiarly illumining. The Duala natives were believed to he making themselves useful to the British, chiefly by acting as guides. Every Duala village within reach of the German troops was therefore ordered to be burnt ~nd every severity practised. On October 7, 1914, a German official, von Emriehrechten, formerly private secretary to tho Governor of the colony, wroto to Hauptmann Gaiser. a German commander, giving instructions to tho effect already stated This document contains the following passages.--11 Prisoners will only be mado when they are caught red-handed and can bo legnllv tried and condemned to death.” Tho obvious implication that it would he wjso to dispose of the innocent beforehand is startling even from the ex-orivato secretary of a German Colonial Governor. He does not. for a moment realise that while tho governing of a nativo race may require a firm hand, it equally requires a just and sympathetic mind. , It is the truest wisdom to keop in sight the interests of the governed, afid this ho ■ has novel; learned. ,