THE MAPOON MISSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14145, 21 August 1909, Page 7

THE MAPOON MISSION.

CHARGES AGAINST REV. HEY.

A SEVERE INDICTMENT.

By Telegraph.— Pre«i Association.—Copyright. Brisbane, August 20. The findings of the inquiry into the charges against the Rev. Nicholas Hey, superintendent of the Mapoon Aboriginal Mission, involving alleged cruelty to natives, have now been made available, and show that members of the Commission disagreed.

Mr. Milman, police magistrate, found the methods adopted of punishing Ellen, the native girl, were warranted under the peculiar circumstances the Rev. Nicholas Hey was in at the time. No suggestion of cruelty or harshness on the part of Hey had, Mr. Milman says, cropped up during the course of the inquiry, though plenty of opportunities had been given Baltzer to present them.

Mr. Jardine, another magistrate, expressed the opinion that the punishment inflicted by Hey and his assistants was carried out with unnecessary harshness and severity, more especially when Hey's calling was taken into consideration.

Mr. Howard, Chief Protector of Aborigines, considered that Ellen had been most cruelly treated, and said it was also evident that other natives had been beaten "in a more or less severe manner with the full knowledge of Hey." He adds, "I cannot conceive how those who profess to teach the higher principles of religion and humanity could so prostitute their calling by such inhuman actions as those disclosed to me."