THE MURDER OF BISHOP PATTESON. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3042, 6 November 1871, Page 3

THE MURDER OF BISHOP PATTESON. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir—The melancholy intelligence published in to-day^s Times, of the murder of Bishop Patteson by the natives, at Nnkupa, a smallislarid of the Swallow Group, will be read with deep sorrow, especially by all who are interested in the work to which he had consecrated his life—the spread of the Gdispel among the Polynesians. You state you have been unable tb find such a group as that named. I may mention there is a group of Several small islands called the Swallow Islands, situate a few miles to the north of Santa Cruz, and included within the Santa Cruiz group. I have no doubt that the islet of Nukupa is one of them. Thecause to which the murder is attributed by Capt. Jacobs, of the Southern Cross, and whichisundoubtedlythecorrectone—namely, "a desire for revenge for a vessel going there, and taking away some of the natives, and otherwise abusing them " —demands the im--1 mediate attention of our Government. The intelligence accompanying this sad intimation that " Captain Jacobs also reports that he was informed a steamer was taking away the people by force. This is supposed to be the Wainui, of Dunedin"—reveals the continuance of the system of kidnapping which, for the protection of all vessels sailing in these seas, if not from higher motives, should be at once repressed. Experience shows that all attempts to regulate this traffic in native labour, by requiring that the natives be only taken with their free consent, receive stipulated wages, and be brought back to their islands, are of no I avail. Practically, the system has degenerated into mere kidnapping by force and fraud, and in consequence I am informed that respectable men who at first engaged in the traffic, seeking to act fairly, have abandoned the attempt as hopeless ; so that iiow the mosb unprincipled adventurers are engaged in it, who scruple at neither deceit nor bloodshed in procuring their cargo for the slavemarkets of Queensland and the Fijis. As a natural consequence, the natives on all the islands which these slavers_ have visited are bent on revenge, and as their revenge is usually directed against the tribe to which the evil-doer belongs, rather than the individual himself, this principle is carried out with respect to the slavers. They identify them with all white men, and take revenge on any that come within their power. This is now the case on a number of the islands in the New Hebrides, so that itis unsafe for any vessel to approach ; and as the slayers are pursuing their nefarious work rapidly among all the other groups, the consequences to all vessels that may touch at any of them will be most disastrous. I trust this deplorable event which has brought to a premature and bloody close the life of one of the most honourable and devoted, missionaries, will have the effect of stirring up our Government to urge the im* mediate adoption by the Imperial Government of strong measures to repress a traffic

which is no less iniquitous and destructive than the hated slave trade of the last generation.—l am, &c,

James Copland.

4th November,