GERMANS IN AFRICA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12194, 18 December 1917, Page 8

GERMANS IN AFRICA.

A POLICY OF SHOOT, STARVE AND BURN. KULTTJR IN THE DARK CONTINENT. (By GAPTATN ROYIE, Fighting with tho British Forces in Africa.) "The treatment of carriers lately by the Germans has been tcrrib?e. Their : carriers include our Indian soldi*? 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 untj, they die of starvation and exhaustion. In following upon Wahles trail from Malangali 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." llio above is an extract from an official report received from BrigadierGeneral Northry, the commander of a British column in East Africa, The knowledge that even the soldiers from India who wero taken prisoners by tho Germans at tho beginning of tho war are being done to death in this singularly brutal manner must stiffen still further tho determination of evorv Briton to put an end once for all to an intolerable state of affairs. EYERY COLONY SUFFERS. This im'impcaohablo evidence from General Northey is not singular. The evidence of a similar character from every colon;, that once had tho misfortune to be in German hands is overwhelming. It also bears out to the letter the thr'ats which Germany nttered before the war to unbelieving ears. She has promised again and again in her officii! " Kre Tzbraueh im Landkreige." no less than in tho works of her most authoritative wrtTs, to shrink from no cruelty calculated io inspire terror to her advantage. This being so, proofs that she hns kept her word may seem necessary. It is nevertheless advisable, now that tho immiment prospect of defeat ia inducing her to veil as far as possible her former deeds and utterances, to keep tho memory of tho past before ufi. That the present deeds of Germany aro in exact keeping with those sh" has committed in the past intens tios the charge against her. A Bntich Blue Book gives details of an indisputable character relating to a Teat number of trials in German S~uth-west Africa before the war. These o 1 early indicato that savage treatment of the natives by Germans was not the exception, but tho rule, and it is evident that the principle generally accepted was that a native could be *hot at sight for any alleged offence. Tho following arc merely instances from very many similar cases: A LIST OF OASES. Walter Bohmer, N.C.0., murdered two Herrcros and wounded two othersThov were running away from service; h 0 just called thom to hinx and shot th Fmnk Jusez, police 1111ur " dered a native accused of theft _by kicking and stamping him to dcatu after flogging him. A Bushman was flogged to death oa vhe off-chance that he meant to stea . This will give a general idea ot the offences committed daily in German South-west Africa. More important is tho case, of a German officer named Venuleth, of the same colony, because words used by him in his defence suggest the habitual and intentional attitudo of the German towards the native. Venuleth was tried by the British (by a court of tho iJnion cl South Africa) for shooting two Bushmen after a trial that was a mere farce. One cynical excuse he gave tor his conduct was that "tliey wero Bushmen, and the Bushmen are a great nuisance anrl always stealing cattle." Incidentally lie made this frank admission, " I would in certain circumstances convict a man aarnp-t whom a charge had not been proved." He was evcVunllv acquitted on the ground that ho had some reason to belicvo that the murdered natives were snio?. _ - . • ! A similar state of things existed m the German Camereons. Her' 1 the » erman native troop® were n!mo=t invariably allowed er-rv ki"d of ■ in their dealings with native Thov co'dd murder, rob. burn and ('"ri'V "fT riitlcn « Ihr.y plcsftcl. Tn a sho-t'ightod way the no'icv mnv have n«>id. Na''ves a"e?>ptcd m!l'tirv rodily. both for the nd™ntnfTos which thev p-ained and thf> diof»dvintn"«s wh'ch tb«v e«Yet if. W"nld bo har-1 to belif.v« a n^ i: ev heinf* adonfe-7 be Ji. rnr .o if if irei-e not in strict a(—-i-Mi pvlpr-iplcs opClliv' Avowed lonf li f,f " rf, lv ,, id. MANY VILLAGES BURNT. As illustrative of the German attitucio in the Cameroons towards neutral natives during the war, a passage from a capfuied dn.'ument is poculiaily illuminating. The Duala nitives were believed to he making themselves useful to the British, chiefly by acting as guides. Every Duala village within reach of tho German troops was therefore ordered to be burnt and every severity practised. On Octobi r 7, 19M, a Gorman official, von Enrrlcbrec.hten, formerly private secretary i.o tho Governor of the colony, wrote, to Hauptmann Gaiser. a German commander, riving instructions to the effect alreadv stated This document contains the following passages.— " Prisoners will only be m':de when • they are caucrht red-handed and can be tried and condemned to death." The obvious implication ihat it would be wise to dispose of the innocent beforehand is startling even from the ex-private secretary of a German Colonial Governor. Ho does not for a moment realise that while the governing of a native race may require a firm hand, it eeiunlly requires a just and Rvmpnthetic mind. It is the truest wrnlom to keen in sipht tho interests of tha governed, this ho, has nevsr learned.