NO POLITICAL REASON BEHIND SOLOMON ISLAND MURDERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18581, 2 October 1928, Page 12

NO POLITICAL REASON BEHIND SOLOMON ISLAND MURDERS.

INQUIRY HELD BY SPECIAL COMMISSIONER. (Special to the “Star.") AUCKLAND, October !. The Solomon Island murders committed some months ago, especially those of Captain Bell and Cadet Lillies and twelve native police, have been the subject of inquiry by Sir Harry Moorhouse, who returned from the island by the Tofua to-day. He was sent out as a special commissioner by the British Government to ascertain whether there were any political reasons behind the crimes. “ I came to the conclusion,’’ he said, “ that there was not.” Sir Harry is a genial, elderly giant of about 6ft 3in in height, and broad in proportion, who has spent a lifetime among primitive races. He was for twenty-five years in Nigeria, where he held the post of Lieutenant-Gov-ernor. “I have retired from the Colonial service,” remarked Sir Harry, “ but you know,” he added with a smile, “ that occasionally they want a gentleman to do odd jobs.” In speaking of his mission, Sir Harry said there were two sets of murders. One could be wiped out as unimportant and concerned the murder of three native police. The other crimes were considered important enough for H.M.S. Adelaide to be sent up as a gesture to the natives, many of whom think the Government agent and the police are the Government, and by killing them they get rid of all authority. Sir Harry said it was necessary for him after his inquiry to go to Suva to confer with the High Commissioner of the Western Pacific (Sir Eyre Hutson) in regard to the major murders. He said Captain Bell and his cadet, accompanied by native police, were on their duties collecting taxes at Malaita and were massacred by a tribe which was subsequently rounded up and tried by a special judicial commissioner from Suva. It had been suggest ed in Australia that the murders wew' committed on account of the impost tion of native taxes, but he could say that native taxes only formed a small part of the trouble. “ If you have a grievance,” said Sir Harry, “ the fact that you have to pay a tax adds to it. We all fin<J that. All the evidence was against the suggestion. The murders Were a purely sporadic outbreak by the Sinerango tribe It was a ma tter of comment that a neighbouring tribe had paid its taxes two days before the murders were committed. Of the Sinerango tribe 198 natives were rounded up, and when investigations

were made, twenty-four of them stood their trial at Tulagi, the capital, six being found guilty and hanged and eighteen sentenced to terms of imprisonment as accessories.” A"sked how the Solomon Islanders compared with African natives, Sir Harry said that the African was always cheerful, and a smile and a laugh settled most arguments, whereas the Solomon Islander was irresponsive and dour. Cannibalism in Sir Harry’s opinion was a thing of the past, and lie found the natives cheerful enough, but the treatment accorded to the white man depended entirely on his mission. Speaking of cannibalism Sir Harry said there was a nice little plantation now under European management in an island where in bygone days victims were kept and fattened and used when required. Many murders, he said, were the result of vendettas, and a man might be slain for something which happened twenty years previously. The native committing such a crime wouid consider that he was doing right. Thi* was the result of primitive living. The missionaries had done splendid work in teaching the natives obedience to law, order and cleanliness.”