CONGO TYRANNY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 11903, 27 June 1906, Page 2

CONGO TYRANNY.

An extraordinary story comes from the Congo Free State, where the Rev. Edger Stannard, of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, has been arrested on a charge of criminal libel. The arrest has arisen out of the complaints concerning the behaviour of Belgian officials in the region. Mr Stannard was stationed at Baringa, in a district under tho military supervision, of Commander Ilagstrom, who, it was alleged, had persistently employed his troops in raiding operations for the benefit of the infamous A.8.1.R. Company. Commander Hagetrom commanded a detachment of the Force Publique, a body of irregular native troops maintained by the Congo Government, according to witnesses, "in order to shoot, kill, maim, and capture as hostages the native inhabitants of those villages which fail to bring in their allotted tale of rubber/ Mr Stannard had sent to England incredible stories of the atrocities perpetrated by officials of the company and by Government servants and when the Belgian Commission appointed to investigate tho charges reached Baringa, he was summoned to give evidence. The Commissioners, in their report, declared that the practices of tho company wore unquestionably illegal, and stated that hundreds of natives had been murdered in the neighbourhood of Baringa alone. Several subordinate agents were arrested, but when the Commissioners had left Baringa, the raiding, slaying, and kidnapping were resumed by the com. pany, with the assistance of Commandant Hagstrom. Those proceedings were reported to the Governor-General by Mr Stannard, who made particular reference to Hagstrom's complicity. At once the Governor-General promulgated a new law, condemning to "be punished by a maximum of five years' imprisonment and by a fine of from 25 to 1000 francs, those who, in writing or verbally, have made before a judicial authority or a public official whose duty it is to advise the fraid authority, a c:\luminou9 denunciation.'' Mr Standard, as we have said,. is undor arrest, but it is absolutely certain that even those tyrannical methods will not prevent British subjects from telling the truth concerning the Cong<K