NEWS BY THE S.S. TRIUMPH.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 104, 30 May 1885, Page 5

NEWS BY THE S.S. TRIUMPH.

By the s.s. Triumph, which arrived from Sydney on May 26, we cull the following interesting items : —

Cruise of H. 111.5. Undine H.M.S. Undine arrived in port yesterday morning from tho New Hebrides, via Noumea, anchoring in Farm Cove about noon. She has been away from here sinco the 13th of March, and during the interval has visited most of the islands of the New Hebrides group. The natives were found to be quiet. It was ascertained during the cruise that the French authorities had taken action in the case of Joseph Booth, a British subject in the employment of the French company, who was murdered at Port Stanley about a year ago, under circumstances already related. An armed party was landed from a man- of- war, which attacked the villages known to contain the murderers ; and in the action which ensued two of the natives were killed and six captured, including several chiefs. These were conveyed to Noumea, where they are now in prison. With regard to the murder of a British subject named Peter Cullen, who was in the service of the German Company on a little island to the southward of Mallicolo, where he was staying when he met with his fate, the German Consul at Noumea was engagod in making inquiries into the matter, as no German man-of-war was available for the purpose. It will be remembered that the German agent and two native servants were killed at the same time as Cullen.

A Missionary Threatened. At Tanna one of the missionaries, the Rev. Mr Gray, had been informed by the natives of his village that some of th 6 residents of an adjoining village had threatened to shoot him, but for what reason was not stated. Mr Gray, however, informed Lieut. Cross, the commander of the Undine, that he felt perfectly safe under the protection of the chief of the village in which he carried on his labours. The only circumstance that gave colour to the threat was that one Sunday, while service was being performed by Mr Gray in the church, two of the ill-disposed natives were discovered prowling round about the building armed with guns. When disturbed they promptly decamped. The natives of Mr Gray's village, determined that no ill shall befall him, mount guard round his house every night fully armed.

Outrage by French Traders. At Espiritu Santo, Lieutenant Cross was informed that the masters and crew of the French schooners Ambroa and Idaho had, some two or three months previously, attacked and burnt a village on that island, alleging as an excuse for their conduct that the natives had stolen a boat from one of their traders. The French authorities took action in the matter by arresting the captain, mate, and recruiter of the Ambroa, and taking them to Noumea, where they are now in prison. The French gunboat Bruat visited the scene of the outrage with the intention of arresting the captain of the Idaho also. But when the Bruat reached there it was found that the captain had deserted the vessel and hidden himself away in the bush. He had not been found at the time the Undine sailed. On April 3, at 4 p.m., and when the Undine was near Havannah Harbour, the schooner Windward Ho was spoken. On being boarded, a man named Springfeld was found with one of his hands blown off. It appeared that ho had been fishing with dynamite some ten days previously, when the accident occurred, and, as no medical aid could be obtained, the wounded limb was in a dreadful state when Dr. Rolands, of the Undine, saw it. He attended to the man sufficiently to enable him to go onto Noumea. The French authorities have stopped recruiting in the New Hebrides group, pending the decision of the French Government, wh\o, it is said, intend to take the labour traffic into their own hands. It would seem that the natives are getting ve?y shy of going away from their homes at all, as two vessels which were reqruiting

when the Undine waß there— one for Samoa and the other for Honolulu— had been unable to- get a single recruit. Captain MoLeod has resigned his connection ,with the French New Hel)riaeB,.Coffipany, and has started trading among the islands on his own account, having purchased the schooner Windward Ho for the purpose.