GRAVE ATROCITY CHARGE: THE AUSTRALIAN BLACKS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 935, 4 December 1933, Page 8

GRAVE ATROCITY CHARGE: THE AUSTRALIAN BLACKS.

A Sydney Letter.

Curious Attitude of Judge at Trial; Threatened to Lock Up the Jury .

(Special to the “Star.”)

SYDNEY, November 23

Since the departure of the C.M.S. expedition to Arnhem hand certain incidents have been reported from the Northern Territory which have once more concentrated public attention upon the aborigines and the treatment that they are receiving—and more particularly upon the way in which justice is administered in our Courts in cases which concern the natives.

Three weeks ago two natives, Dick and Bobby, were put on trial at Darwin on a charge of murdering a dingo trapper named Nicholls. in May. 1933.

'THEY WERE DEFENDED by a barrister who pointed out to the jury that the charge against the blacks was based on the evidence of four gins, all of whom contradicted each other in many details. But even if the jury were satisfied that Nicholls was killed by the natives, counsel submitted evidence to slro\v that Nicholls “ had ill-treated the natives, taken one of their gins, fired at them to keep them away from his camp, and threatened on other occasions to shoot them.” The jury were evidently impressed by this evidence, and after being locked up for twelve hours informed the Court that they could not agree about a verdict. Threat to “ Lock Up ” Jury. Judge Wells—who has been recently appointed Supreme Court judge for the Northern Territory—then told the jury that “ he was not satisfied that they had reasonable cause for disagreeing,” and, as this was Saturday, he threatened to lock them up till Monday morning, adding that if they had not agreed by that time “ he could not give any indication of what would happen then." The jury, therefore, retired again, and, according to the newspaper report, “ for many minutes their voices could be heard in angry argument.’’ Eventually they came back into Court with a verdict of not guilty for Bobby and guilty against Dick, and Judge Wells then sentenced Dick to death. A prominent part was played by Judge Wells in an even more sensational case a little later. Some time ago Constable Stott, of the Northern Territory police, was accused of having brutally flogged a native boy. Tommy, and of having caused the death of a lubra. Dolly. The matter seemed so serious that Stott was suspended by the authorities, and his case came on at Darwin last week. The evidence against Stott consisted entirely of the statements made by six natives, who maintained that Stott had knocked Tommy down, thrashed him with sticks and dragged him about at the end of a halter tied round his neck, so that be was wounded and bleeding in many places. Tommy and his friends persisted in their statements under severe crossexamination, and Stott’s counsel then argued that because the blacks all told the same tale this was proof that they had invented it—“ the way the six aboriginal witnesses repeated the same story in parrot fashion nine months after the alleged.occurrence, pointed to the conclusion that they told a well-rehearsed and concocted story.” This view of the evidence seems to have appealed to Judge Wells; but it is a curious fact that in the first case, when the black witnesses contradicted each other he rejected all their evidence as unreliable, whereas in Stott’s case he accepted their .•agreement with each other as proof that they were all lying. However, Judge Wells decided that this charge of “ an unbelievably bloodthirsty assault ” was “ absolutely without foundation,” and Stott was accordingly discharged. But. there were other features of this case which made it exceptionally note-

worthy. An attempt was made by the Association for the Protection of Native Races to ensure that justice would be done, and they had briefed counsel to watch the interests of the natives concerned. Judge Wells took strong exception to the appearance of counsel, and on the second day ordered him out of Court on the ground that the association’s intervention was “ meddlesome, impertinent and mischievous.” It is not easy to see how an Aborigines’ Protection Society can discharge its functions better than by watching cases in which the life or safety of natives is directly concerned. But Judge Wells had a great deal more to sav before the trial was over. Constable Stott had stated that at the departmental inquiry which led to his suspension he had not been allowed to hear all the evidence or to cross-examine the witnesses. The Crown Prosecutor denied this and desired to call evidence to refute Stott's statements. But Judge Wells refused permission, and without hearing what was to be said on the other side, gave his opinion that it was “ a monstrous thing ” that any man should be subjected to such “ Stq,r Chamber methods.” Evidence Inconclusive. From Constable Stott’s point of view this outburst was a very satisfactory prelude to the investigation into the more serious charge of having caused the death of the native girl Dolly. Happily for him, the evidence against him at the inquest was given by the same native witnesses that had appeared in the previous case; for the alleged beating of Tommy and the death of Dolly both occurred during a 100-mile trek ” conducted by Stott with fifteen natives charged with cattle-stealing. According to the aborigines, who gave the coroner an extremely detailed and circumstantial account of the alleged occurrences. Doll}' was compelled to spend the night with Stott and his black tracker; and they asserted that when she attempted to run away with another black boy and was caught she was handcuffed to the chain gang, then tied up to a tree and flogged, left lashed to the tree all night without food, fire or covering in the rain, again flogged and kicked next day, and finally the next night she died. This was the evidence of another lubra, and several other natives, including Dolly's sister, corroborated it. Stott declined to answer any questions on the ground that “ his replies might incriminate him.” A doctor who had been present when Dolly's body was exhumed was “ unable to determine the causes of death,” and the coroner in the. end felt forced to fall back upon this inconclusive verdict. He added a rider, however, to the effect that “ the evidence disclosed assaults ” by Stott and his black tracker, “ but the evidence did not disclose that these assaults were the cause of Dolly’s death.” There for the moment the matter stands. But Mr Perkins, Minister for the Interior, has told the Federal House that the Government is not prepared to ignore all these ominous happenings and the sinister rumours associated with them.