Papuans And Their First
p. 41 · Read in the full issue
Bombs
PORT Moresby had been bombed for the first time; and hundreds of native Papuans, new to this form of modern war, raced away inland, heading for the jungle with all possible speed.
Mr. H. Shaw, of Port Romilly sawmill, met an intelligent native of Hanuabada village, who had been watching the first wave of runaways.
“Well, Vagi,” remarked Mr. Shaw.
“How you like bombs, eh?”
“You know, Taubada, this war ’nother kind,” said Vagi. “I think New Guinea boy, inside here (placing his hand on his heart) must be more small than white men, and plenty boy he die.”
“How he die?”
“Well, plenty he die, I think,” repeated Vagi. “He get big fright and he run and run, and he so fright he keep on running ’til he run no more, and then he drop down dead.”
But that was in the beginning. It is said that the natives around Port Moresby are learning to treat bombs with indifference.
Names of two former members of the Western Samoa Administration appeared in New Zealand Army casualty lists re cently—Mr. L. J. Dawes (at one time District Officer on Savaii) was posted as “killed in action”, and Mr. V. Fairhall (formerly of the Treasury Department) as “wounded in action”.