Easy To Kill

Natives

Enlarged Spleen and a Casual Blow

Patrol Officer Lawrence Wall

** fv-imiirrVi ranov,. was walking the Govern ment stktion at Kokoda, in Papua, on April 26, when he noticed a strange native sitting there with other natives Mri a t?a 6 i d fv?nc,fhiP ff fnU told that the native had run away from his indentured employment with Mr.

Kingsley, at Yodda. , i , w. aSprf^h v

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he had run away. The man said that ne was sick.

Mr. Wall told the man to wait—that he would come back shortly and “make K a^S; d a 72 y ’ I he ga

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his hand. Shortly afterwards, on his way back to his office, he saw a crowd around iv^,^ ai m^ natlVe ’ Was lyi fF 011 t ? e ground. The man died soon afterwards. rffi Unat . ely ’ assistance was avail able and a post mortem examination

showed that the native had an abnorm ally enlarged spleen. It was shown that the spleen had been ruptured; and, more over, that the condition of the man was such that a very light blow would have caused the rupture.

Mr. Wall, before the Central Court in Port Moresby, was charged with man slaughter. He expressed intense regret for what had happened, and insisted that he had had no intention whatever of hurting the man —he had merely struck him a playful back-handed blow which, in ordinary circumstances, would scarcely have been felt. He has resigned from the service.

Judge Gore said, at first, that the case called for a short sentence of im prisonment; but, after consultation, he decided that in the circumstances it would be sufficient to record a conviction and that Mr. Wall give a bond of £5O and a surety of £5O to be of good be haviour for 12 months.

Some of the judges who have imposed heavy sentences on Europeans in New Guinea, in similar circumstances, should take note of the manner in which the wiser and more experienced officials in Papua deal with such cases. It is now an established fact that many natives suffer from enlarged spleen, and that quite a light blow on the stomach will cause a fatal rupture. Europeans have been imprisoned in New Guinea for causing the deaths of natives with en larged spleens, although it was proved that they had not the slightest intention of inflicting an injury, much less make a murderous attack.

Miss Margaret Bignell, while residing in Sydney with her father, Mr. C. R.

Bignell, who is at present on holiday from the British Solomon Islands, un derwent an operation for severe appen dicitis. She made a speedy recovery.